Kent Spitfires made it three T20 defeats in three as they came out second best against Essex Eagles at Canterbury on Friday night.

In what was a fairly one sided game, the Spitfires were to lose by 47 runs against their near neighbours.

It was Spitfires captain James Tredwell that won the toss and he had no hesitation in inserting the Eagles with a crowd of over 5,000 packed into the Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence.

The decision to bowl first looked to have been an inspired one with Essex reduced to 75 for 4 at one stage, but Essex were to post 164 for 6 in their 20 overs.

Once again Adam Riley was to open the bowling for the Spitfires with Vernon Philander getting the early breakthrough bowling Greg Smith for 19.

Graham Napier was promoted to number three in the Eagles innings but he’d only made 3 when James Tredwell had him caught on the boundary by Alex Blake.

The ever dangerous Hamish Rutherford was to light up the game with three fours and two big sixes, but his innings ended on 29 when Riley trapped him in front.

Ravi Bopara was to come and go too for 8 as he nicked Darren Stevens behind to Sam Billings who was once again preferred with the gloves.

A 74 run partnership between Owais Shah and Ryan ten Doeschate took the Eagles on to 149 with Matt Coles and Mitchell Claydon the targets for their batting.

Ten Doeschate (31) was unsurprisingly run out as he looked for a run with Shah static with Claydon bowling the latter for 59 one before the end of the innings.

Set 165 to win, the Spitfires innings couldn’t have got off to a worse start as Sam Northeast was trapped in front by Napier for 0 of the first ball of the their reply.

Some tight bowling from the Eagles kept the Spitfires in check as they struggled to find the boundary and in the end wickets cost them dear, falling at regular intervals.

Sam Billings was to fall on 15 as he picked out Greg Smith in the deep trying to put Reece Topley into the crowd.

The game was to be lit up by a brief innings from Darren Stevens (batting for the 100th time in Friend’s Life T20) as he smashed 19 in just 10 balls, but when he chopped on Ravi Bopara, most of Kent’s hopes went with him.

Rob Key’s thirty ball 26 came to an end when he too tried to pick up the run rate, trying to smash spinner Tim Phillips with Smith once again the man to comfortably take the catch.

At 82 for 4 after 11 overs, Kent were still very much in the game, but they were to lose their last six wickets for 35 runs.

Alex Blake was the first to go for 19 as he too tried to smash Phillips with Topley the man to bag the catch.

Vernon Philander and Matt Coles were promoted to bat at six and seven with the latter receiving a real let off as he drilled the ball to mid off only to see the ball hit the ground.

His luck was to run out shortly after though as he nicked Bopara through to the excellent James Foster behind the stumps.

Ben Harmison, in at number eight, was to last just ten balls before being bowled by Topley for 10, while Philander was to become the Essex bowler’s third victim when on 10 as he found Napier in the deep.

Two wickets in the over from Napier were to wrap up the innings as he had Spitfires skipper Tredwell caught and bowled for 1 with Mitchell Claydon nicking behind to Foster off the next ball.

In the end the statistics will show the game was lost by 47 runs with 15 balls left to be bowled. The Spitfires now face Middlesex at Uxbridge on Sunday afternoon and then make the trip to Chelmsford to face Essex once again on Monday night.

 

Kent won the toss and elected to bowl.

Kent side: Key, Northeast, Billings, Stevens, Harmison, Blake, Tredwell, Philander, Coles, Claydon, Riley.

Essex side: Mickleburgh, Rutherford, Smith, Shah, Bopara, ten Doeschate, Foster, Phillips, Napier, Tait, Topley.

Result: Essex 164 for 6 (20 overs), Kent 117 all out (17.3 overs), Essex won by 47 runs.