Kent captain Rob Key is hoping the side can take their form from last week’s big T20 win against Somerset into tomorrow’s game against Gloucestershire.

The Spitfires welcome Gloucestershire to Canterbury on Friday night on the back of opening their NatWest T20 Blast campaign with an outstanding and emphatic 42-run win at Somerset last Friday.

Having been put into bat, Kent raced to a remarkable 164-4 from their 13-over allocation in the rain-affected game, scoring at a rate of 12.61 runs per over, as Daniel Bell-Drummond made 59 from 30 balls, Darren Stevens 47 from 20 balls and Key himself 46 from 22 balls.

In reply, the home side were only able to make 122-5, with Stevens taking two wickets and Doug Bollinger three.

And, speaking prior to the Spitfires second Blast game with Gloucestershire, Key was pleased with the way the batsmen had started the game off positively for the Spitfires.

“I don’t think the game against Somerset was any sort of magic formula”, he said. “It was just the fact that we got off to a good start and we continued on with it.

“The good thing was that we showed what we were capable of against one of the best sides in the country, so hopefully we can continue.”

Some Kent fans were surprised as Kent adjusted their order in the shortened game, with Bell-Drummond and Key opening, Darren Stevens batting at three and Sam Billings at four.

Key, however, felt that it was the best thing to do to give them a chance to picking up the win, which they did.

“I don’t think we really did have a high-risk strategy with the way we changed the batting”, he said.

“We were going to open with myself and Deebz [Bell-Drummond]. We had a plan, without giving too much away, for Stevo [Stevens] to come in after the powerplay, which he did. It was a shortened game, and that’s what he’s done for years for us – to come in in that type of position with that sort of amount of overs left – he’s been one of the best in the country at it.”

The 36-year-old skipper also spoke about how he was keen for the side to maintain the momentum they had gathered.

“We started well, so hopefully we can just continue”, he said.

“As individual players and as a team, it was always a massive game for getting on a roll, either way. It might be slightly different now, with generally a week in between each [T20] game; it will be interesting – everyone doing that for the first time.

“If we can just continue and get momentum in that form, it can steamroller.”

 

We’ll have live updates from The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence for tomorrow night’s NatWest T20 Blast game between Kent Spitfires and Gloucestershire on Twitter at KSN Cricket, with the game getting underway at 7pm.