Kent off-spinner Adam Riley bemoaned the “Light Gods” after his side’s hopes of YB40 qualification were ended by a power failure.

The game at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence against the Warwickshire Bears was abandoned midway through Kent’s chase of 214 after a power failure stopped floodlight 2 from working, as the umpires ruled that conditions were unsafe to continue, leaving Kent behind on the Duckworth / Lewis method and falling to a 7-run defeat.

“It’s a new one for me as well as everyone else who played today. It’s unfortunate because it would have been a good game. Obviously the way the game was set up – it would have been a good run chase, and Stevo [Darren Stevens, who was at the crease on 42 not out when the floodlight failed] there could have been the hero, but unfortunately, the light Gods were against us tonight!” said Riley.

“It’s unfortunate because obviously we still had a chance in this tournament. We still had to win both games to give ourselves a chance of qualifying – whether we would have done, I don’t know, but it’s a bit of a bitter way to end the competition for us.”

Though disappointed in the nature of Kent’s exit from the competition, Riley, who took 1-38 as he bowled out his eight overs, was satisfied with his contribution.

“Getting eight overs out anyway is nice – I don’t mind doing that, but obviously when you’ve got double spinners, someone’s got to bowl at that top end where it’s a bit more difficult to bowl with the wind and the short boundary, but today obviously we played right in the middle so it allowed me to bowl my eight through. I’d like to have gone for a few less maybe, but in the grand scheme of things I didn’t bowl too badly.”

The Bexley-born slow bowler has been a regular in Kent’s YB40 and T20 campaigns this season, and said he was pleased to have been involved as much as he had.

“I’m enjoying it this year. I’ve played a lot more one-day cricket than I have done in previous years. Obviously playing in the T20s as well was a different challenge but a good one.”

“Hopefully I can get a couple of four-day games at the back-end of the season when the pitches get a bit drier, but again you can’t control that – when you go to the away venues, you can’t control what pitch you’re going to play on, so hopefully I might get a chance in four-day cricket but in one-day cricket this year, I’ve been really pleased with what I’ve done and I think I’ve really come forward as a bowler this year from where I was at the beginning of the season.”

Picture supplied by www.sarahansellphotography.com