A thrilling finish at Canterbury saw the Kent Spitfires qualify for the Royal London Cup quarter-finals with a two-wicket win over Lancashire, in Darren Stevens’ white-ball swansong at the Spitfire Ground. 

Kent were in deep trouble on 190 for six, but Harry Podmore hit Luke Wells’ penultimate ball for four to send Kent through to the knock-out stages, after a day of raw, unfiltered tension. 

Stevens hit 49 in his final List A innings at the St. Lawrence, but he was nearly upstaged by Lancashire’s George Balderson, who played a high-risk innings and was rewarded with an unbeaten 106 from 87 balls. Josh Bohannon was the visitors’ next highest-scorer with 75 as Lancashire recovered from 95 for five to post 295-9. Nathan Gilchrist claimed three for 52 and Harry Podmore three for 53. 

Alex Blake was Kent’s top scorer with 81 and his century stand with Stevens kept the Spitfires in contention before Podmore finished the job, with Kent closing on 298 for eight. 

The hosts needed to win to stand any chance of reaching the quarter-finals, while hoping Yorkshire lost to Hampshire. Lancashire, having already qualified, were trying to overhaul Hampshire at the top of the Group B table. 

Kent chose to field first and Grant Stewart made an early breakthrough when he had Luke Wells caught behind for a duck in the third over. 

Gilchrist then bowled Keaton Jennings for 17 and had Steven Croft lbw for nought, but Bohannon and Dane Vilas put on 51 for the next wicket before Podmore removed the latter for 22 after a brilliant diving catch by Hamid Qadri at square leg. 

When Rob Jones charged at Qadri he was stumped by Ollie Robinson for nine, but Bohannon and Balderson rebuilt the innings as conditions improved.    

Their stand of 101 was ended when Bohannon skied Qadri to Gilchrist but George Lavelle maintained the momentum with 24 from 13 balls before he spooned Podmore to Alex Blake. 

Podmore then removed Danny Lamb, caught behind for eight, but Balderson reached three figures when he hooked Stewart for four in the penultimate over. 

Although Gilchrist subsequently bowled Tom Bailey for nine it was still Lancashire’s highest List A score against Kent and when Jack Blatherwick took two wickets in three balls the target looked a long way off. 

Ben Compton went for three in the third over of the chase when Lamb took a juggling catch at first slip off and Ollie Robinson lasted just two balls before Blatherwick had him caught behind for a duck. 

Joe Denly produced a couple of elegant fours but was lbw to Bailey for 13, before the same bowler had Joey Evison caught and bowled for 20. At 53 for four the stage was set for Stevens and with Alex Blake he hauled Kent back into contention as they put on 105 for the next wicket. 

Back in the year 2000 Stevens had played for Leicestershire against a Kent side that included Wells’ father Alan and he hit successive Wells Junior deliveries for six before falling just short of his half-century, caught and bowled by Croft. He departed to a standing ovation and kissed his helmet before entering the pavilion.  

Blake then chipped Wells to Jennings, but Harry Finch and Grant Stewart hit back with a 73-run partnership. 

When Stewart hit Balderson for successive sixes Kent looked favourites, but he fell for 49, caught by Croft off Blatherwick, just as news filtered through that Yorkshire had lost. 

Podmore joined Finch and whittled away at the target, with every run cheered by the crowd of 2,101, to leave Kent needing three from the final over, but Finch hit Wells first delivery to Vilas. 

The next two were dots and Wells missed a difficult return catch as Qadri scrambled a single from the fourth, leaving Podmore to drive the winning boundary through the covers. Kent now have a quarter-final trip to Stevens’ home county Leicestershire. 

Kent’s Darren Stevens said: “We’re really pleased, we had a couple of sticky moments and the boys were biting their nails upstairs but we’re happy that Podders hit a nice little cover drive to get us over the line. It was good fun, the stand was needed at the time after losing a few wickets early on. 

“I was a bit nervous and it was nice getting butterflies before I went in, I enjoyed the sixes a lot. It’s sad times, it’s my last (white-ball) game at Kent, but it’s good to be out there. It’s just a shame I didn’t go on and win the game like I wanted to.”

(On facing his old county in the QF).  

“You couldn’t have written it could you? It’s a different challenge, a different place to play. We haven’t played white ball cricket there for a long time. We’ll do our work over the next couple of days to figure out how we’re going to play it.” 

(Asked if being put in a difficult situation brought out the best in him.)

“I don’t know what you’re on about! No, it hurts because I still feel like I’ve got a lot to give and I still feel like I do my job. Two injuries have not helped me. Getting a collar bone strike put me out for longer than I was expecting, I was hoping to be out for about three or four weeks and it ended up being seven weeks, that was hard to take. 

“Getting back for the one-day stuff, I was pleased, I was ready to go, but then pinging my calf at Glamorgan was gut-wrenching. I’ve never done a calf before , but luckily it was Grade One. It’ll be three weeks this Thursday so I’ve done well to get back.” 

(Asked if he’d been given a reason why he’d been released.)  

“No. Not a proper reason but you can see what’s happened. They’ve signed Joey Evison, who’s a talented all-round cricketer and I’m guessing that’s my spot in the championship, but he’s a good, little player from what we’ve seen so far. I’m sure he’ll be good for Kent for the future. 

“My job is to get runs, take wickets and get runs for Kent, so that’s what I’ll do until I finish. I want to (play next year) I still feel like I’ve got a lot to give. I feel like I’m hitting the ball well, and the ball’s coming out all right, so I feel like I can do a job for a club somewhere. I’d like a player-coach role, but at the moment I still feel I can do a job with the bat and the ball.” 

(Has he had any offers) “No, nothing yet. We’ll see what happens, we’ve got a quarter-final to play at the end of the week. If people call and offer things we’ll have a sit down as the weeks go on and decide, probably towards the end of the year.” 

(What about the Big Bash?) 

“That was my agent who put me in for that! He called and said I’ve put you in! I was like, yeah great, cheers. I think he’s put me in for everything, but why not? I still want to play. It’d be good wouldn’t it, it’d be a good way to go out. 

“I didn’t think I’d be released, I’d hoped it would be down to me pulling the pin on it, but that’s not the case. They’ve got other ideas and want to go in a different direction and that’s fine. It’s gutting, it’s disappointing, but that’s fine, I respect the club, I love the club and I just want the best for the club. 

“I love the game, I wouldn’t be playing now if I didn’t love it as much as I do, but I love it, I love the challenges of batting and bowling and red-ball cricket as well, so I’ll keep playing until I think it’s right, and at the minute I don’t think it’s right (to stop).” 

Kent’s Alex Blake said: “Obviously we’re delighted, it was bit tense there at the end. Credit to the boys, I got out at a pretty vital stage and then Grant and Finchy kept batting superbly to tick it off. We lost a wicket in that last over, but then Podders did it again, like he did at Worcester four years ago.  

“It was a bit emotional when Darren got out, but we were still hoping we were going to win. It was still a good wicket, there was a short boundary on one side and we saw that they put on runs at the end so we just had to keep being positive. I played my shots, Darren came in and played his shots and it helped with right hand, left hand combination. Unfortunately we both got out but I love batting with Darren and he’s still an unbelievable player, the way he strikes the ball. It was an emotional day, the show goes on, on Friday at Leicester.” 

Lancashire’s George Balderson said. “It was a tough position to come in at 95 for five but Josh was playing really nicely at the other end and we just knocked it around and eventually got into a position where, with the pace of the pitch and as the ball got older, we felt like we could score a bit more. 

“We had a short boundary which helped a little bit and meant we always had a boundary option and just went from there really. I’ve been trying (to play with freedom) as much as possible in this competition. I had one innings at Hampshire where I wasn’t as positive, so I made a conscious decision in my own mind to try and be as positive as I can in every situation. At 95 for five you can’t hit every ball for four, but I played strong shots and built from there. 

“I felt in good form for a while now, without having a score of note. Blackpool last week felt like the start of something, with 30-odd in a pressurised situation. That gave me a lot of confidence going into this week and it just rolled on from there really. I hadn’t passed 50 for the club this year but I always had confidence this day would come. I was ok in the 90s, it sort of crept up me. I looked up at the scoreboard and saw I was on 90. I think it made it a little bit easier that the game situation was laid out in front of me. I needed to hit a few boundaries and needed to get on strike because batting with some of the lower order batter so I focused on the game situation and that took the nerves away.” 

Picture supplied by Max Flego Photography.