A disappointing batting performance saw the Kent Spitfires fall to a 35-run defeat against Sussex Sharks in their NatWest T20 Blast match at Canterbury.

Chasing 150 to win, the Spitfires lost early wickets and saw batsmen heading back to the pavilion at regular intervals throughout, as they were eventually bowled out for 114 with six balls of their innings remaining.

This was on a pitch that proved remarkably sticky, with a number of balls appearing to sit up throughout both sides’ knocks. Sussex’s Luke Wright the only man to seemingly master the conditions, making a 61-ball 85, as he carried his bat through the visitors’ innings.

England limited-overs batsman Wright seems to enjoy batting at Canterbury – his last appearance at the ground saw him smash a 54-ball century in last year’s YB40 competition, although Darren Stevens’ record-breaking 118 in Kent’s chase that night helped the home side pick up the win.

Tonight, there were no heroics for the Spitfires to fall back on, with no-one able to provide the runs needed in chasing what would prove to be a more than adequate total; Sam Billings’ 23 the highest score any Kent batsman could manage.

Sussex’s victory saw them end a run of five successive defeats in the South Group of the NatWest T20 Blast; with seven of the nine teams in the division, including both of these sides, still in with a reasonable chance of progressing to the quarter finals.

Having lost the toss and been sent into the field on a sunny summer evening at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, the Spitfires started relatively well; Mitch Claydon dismissing Wright’s opening partner Chris Nash in the second over for just 3.

Debutant Harry Finch came in at three for the visitors, and made a decent, tidy 22 in a partnership of 71 between him and Wright which saw the Sharks  into the twelfth over.

Spinner James Tredwell, currently on a County Championship-only loan at tonight’s opponents, was the pick of the bowlers for Kent tonight, taking 2-20 from his four overs against tonight’s opponents who had only yesterday been his teammates. It was he who broke the partnership; Finch trapped lbw for 22 from 28 balls in his maiden T20 innings.

The Spitfires’ bowlers appeared to be doing a decent job with the ball, despite the fact that Sussex ran out as comfortable winners, as they picked up seven wickets in the final nine overs of the Sussex innings.

Rory Hamilton-Brown made 12 before picking out Adam Ball in the deep off Stevens, while Matt Machan gave Tredwell his second wicket of the night with probably the easiest caught and bowled he will take in his career; another dismissal which highlighted the problems the pitch was causing the batsmen.

An Alex Blake throw from the boundary allowed David Griffiths to whip the bails off and run out Ben Brown in the 18th over, before Doug Bollinger picked up two wickets in the penultimate one – bowling Yasir Arafat (4) and having Will Beer (0) caught behind by Billings.

Wright was finally out off the final ball of the innings, as he holed out to Daniel Bell-Drummond on the cover boundary for a mightily impressive 85; a knock that featured seven fours and two sixes.

Chasing 150 to win, Kent’s reply never really got going. Left-arm seamer Lewis Hatchett removed the off-stump of in-form skipper Rob Key for a second-ball duck off the third ball of the innings, and produced an almost identical dismissal to get rid of Sam Northeast for 17 in his next over; Northeast having actually looked in decent nick, scoring four boundaries in his 13-ball innings.

Alex Blake was dismissed in the fourth over as Hamilton-Brown took a stunning, one-handed diving catch at point off the bowling of James Anyon – a fantastic effort that is sure to live long in the memory for all who witnessed it.

Daniel Bell-Drummond made 14 before being the first of the impressive Steffan Piolet’s three wickets – the right arm fast-medium bowler would finish with superb figures of 3-14 from his four-over spell.

Leg-spinner Will Beer also impressed with ball, and he removed Billings in his second over; the Kent wicket-keeper trapped lbw on the back pad for his 20-ball 23.

Spitfires’ dangerman Darren Stevens made just three before being caught and bowled by Piolet, his dismissal the perfect example of how the pitch was playing, as it seemed to sit in the turf for an age before the all-rounder could only prod it back at the bowler.

By the time Stevens fell, it was all but game over, with Kent having collapsed to 67-6 before the halfway stage of their innings.

Tredwell (4) and Claydon (1) gave Piolet and Beer their third and second wickets respectively, while Doug Bollinger was bowled by the off-spin of Sharks skipper Chris Nash.

Adam Ball and David Griffiths did manage to add 27 together for the final wicket with game already up in a  record T20 final wicket partnership for Kent – both men hitting 18 – Ball’s equal highest T20 score and Griffiths’ top-score of his career in the shortest form of the game.

Griffiths also hit the solitary six in the Kent innings off Nash, a slog sweep that was middled over midwicket.

By the time Arafat bowled Ball in the penultimate over to leave Kent all out for 114, the result had long been academic; the 35-run loss meaning the Spitfires have won three, lost three and tied one of their seven NatWest T20 Blast games of their campaign so far.

They will now turn their attention back to four-day cricket, as they welcome Derbyshire to Canterbury, starting on Sunday, before returning to the shortest form of the game against Gloucestershire at Bristol next Friday night.

 

Kent Spitfires vs. Sussex Sharks, NatWest T20 Blast, South Group, The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, Canterbury, 20 June 2014:

Sussex Sharks 149-8 (Wright 85; Tredwell 2-20, Bollinger 2-24) beat Kent Spitfires 114 (18.4 overs – Piolet 3-14, Hatchett 2-20, Beer 2-25) by 35 runs.

 

Kent Spitfires: Bell-Drummond, Key*, Northeast, Blake, Billings†, Stevens, Ball, Tredwell, Riley, Bollinger, Griffiths

Sussex Sharks: Nash*, Wright, Finch, Hamilton-Brown, Machan, Brown†, Arafat, Beer, Piolet, Anyon, Hatchett

Sussex won the toss and elected to bat

 

Full scorecard available here