India’s Yuzvendra Chahal made a stunning debut in the Metro Bank Cup, helping the Northamptonshire Steelbacks to a nine-wicket victory over the Kent Spitfires at Canterbury.

Chahal, whose signing was only confirmed an hour before the start of play, took five for 14 during an unbroken 10-over spell, as the hosts were skittled for just 82 in 35.1 overs.

Justin Broad was nearly as impressive, claiming three for 16 and Kent’s top scorer, Jaydn Denly, made just 22.

Northants needed just 14 overs to reach the target, James Sales finishing on 32 not out and George Bartlett unbeaten on 31 as the visitors closed on 86 for one.

Although neither side stood a chance of qualifying for the knock out stages, a healthy crowd of around 2,300 turned up at the Spitfire Ground. 

Kent won the toss, chose to bat and instantly regretted it. Both openers went cheaply: Broad had Marcus O’Riordan caught at first slip by Prithvi Shaw for five and Luke Procter bowled Joey Evison for one.

Sunday’s centurion Harry Finch went for seven, edging Broad behind and skipper Jack Leaning went in the next over for two, edging Procter to Gus Miller at second slip, reducing Kent to 15 for four.

It nearly got worse as Denly was on 8 when Chahal dropped an easy caught and bowled chance, but he immediately atoned when he had Ekansh Singh stumped for 10.

Chahal, who played two red ball games for Kent in 2023, then had Jaydn Denly and Beyers Swanepoel both lbw in the same over, for 22 and 0 respectively.

When he then had Grant Stewart caught by Shaw for 1, Kent were 52 for eight and in severe danger of posting their lowest ever List A total, 60 vs Somerset at Taunton in 1979.

When Matt Parkinson hit a single to steer them past that landmark there was a smattering of dry applause but Nathan Gilchrist then hit Chahal high into the air and was caught at long-off by Raphael Weatherall.

Parkinson raised a rare cheer when he swiped Freddie Heldreich for six, but when Broad returned from the Nackington Road end he immediately had George Garrett caught by Shaw, to dismiss Kent for their fourth lowest score in this format.

The chase was almost entirely devoid of drama. Northants lost Prithvi Shaw for 17 when he was caught and bowled by a juggling Beyers Swanepoel but Sales and Bartlett coasted to the target, the latter sealing the win when the latter smacked Parkinson for six over cow corner.

Northamptonshire’s John Sadler said: “It was a brilliant performance, pretty clinical I think. Procter and Broad up top were superb, we took our catches and then obviously the magician that is Yuzvendra Chahal came on and he bowled beautifully didn’t he? The control, he subtle variations of pace and flight and he’s going to create chances for us for the next two months. He showed what he is, he’s a global superstar and then we went and finished it off,

“So yes, it was a clinical performance but you can’t help but think about what could have been because that performance, we know it’s in there but yeah, it’s a bit bittersweet because it’s been a frustrating campaign. So yeah, it was a great day, but just a little bit too late.

“We know Proctor’s a top cricketer, we know what he can do and he bowled beautifully today.

“We’ve got a good recruitment system if you look at the overseas and the recruitment we’ve done in the last couple of years. We’ve had some fantastic players and not just players, but people who fit in to what we do very well, our analyst James is very, very good at that. We’ve got global contacts with the coaches and players.

“We’ve been umming and ahh-ing about what overseas players to bring in for the last two months really, but certainly for the last five championship games that was the main focus. We geared it around whether or not we’d bring in another seamer or a world-class spinner. There are two Kookaburra games, it’s been very hot and dry and we’ve not rushed in to anything but when we weighed it all up and knew that Yuzi was available it was a no-brainer. We can hopefully rack up some big runs, then throw him the ball and hopefully we’ll create chances.”

Kent’s Mark Dekker said: “I don’t think this group of lads is about excuses. They wanted to play, they wanted to win and put a performance in. The fact is we didn’t.

“We’ve had a pretty honest conversation as to what we need to do and that’s fine. It’s not a great experience but we’ve got to sit down, look ourselves in the mirror, say that we weren’t good enough and that something needs to happen.

“We weren’t expecting to be 15 for four. It’s a used wicket, we’ve played on it before. There was talk about is the wicket doing a little bit too much and my feeling was no. I don’t think our batters got out, I think their bowlers actually got us out, so credit to them.

“I’m comfortable with the decision to bat first and had we batted with more application, I think might be the correct phrasing, I think it’s a 260-270 wicket. The moment we start blaming the wicket. I’ve said it right the way through, cricket lends itself to finding reasons not to succeed but don’t blame the wicket today, they’ve made it look pretty good.

“It was a bit of a surprise (to be facing Chahal) but for our younger players, you don’t want to be hiding from players like that, you want to be going out and enjoying the challenge of facing him. If you fall short that’s absolutely fine, recognise why you fell short. (Jaydn and Ekansh) were really good until they got out, so take some solace from that and some excitement from that. I love the fact both of them are 18 years of age, and part of our academy and I think they’re going to be going to be pretty good for us in the future.

“There were two games where we were massively outperformed, but the rest of them could have gone our way. We were three out of eight and with a little bit more look we could have been four or five (wins out of eight) but if ifs and ands were pots and pans eh?

“(Members) are absolutely right. Ben Compton could have been an anchor man, he’s a valuable player who’s shown his skills in red ball cricket, but if we’re talking about the medium term strategy of the club, will he feature in T20 and what direction the club wants to take with T20 players and who we’re investing in, that’s the bigger picture. Compo would have done brilliantly, he’s a class player but that’s not the direction Chef (Simon Cook) is taking with the club’s white ball side.”