Kent Spitfires dreams of a trip to Lord’s and even a CB40 semi-final ended with a nine wicket loss to the Sussex Sharks at Canterbury.

Setting just 210 to win, the Spitfires were second best in almost every department as the Sharks won comfortably with Luke Wright hitting an unbeaten century with Matt Prior in majestic form and they recorded their victory with ten overs to spare.

The day had started with the Spitfires winning the toss and electing to bat first against a Sharks attack that had both Amjad Khan and Monty Panesar sitting on the balcony.

Sam Billings short stay at the crease ended when he was on nine as he played at a wide one from Steve Magoffin, only finding the edge with Matt Prior taking the simplest of chances at an unfamiliar first slip.

Batting became difficult for the Spitfires for a while as they struggled to get the ball off the square as Rob Key and Sam Northeast opted for a safety first approach on the St Lawrence Ground wicket.

Key was ultimately out for 40 as he feathered a ball from Kirk Wernars into the gloves of Ben Brown with Sam Northeast departing six overs later for 21 as he was trapped at the wicket by Will Beer.

Having gone through a process of rebuilding with Darren Stevens and Brendan Nash happy to wotk the ball around, the Spitfires lost their fourth wicket in the 30th over when the pair went for a risky second run and the former was run out for 32 with  Magoffin throwing the ball into Mike Yardy who whipped the bails off.

Runs proved just as hard to come by for Alex Blake and he too threw his wicket away when he reverse swept Mike Yardy straight up in the air to Werners for 15 with the score 153 for 5.

Sensing the need to step on the gas with the overs running out, Geraint Jones smashed Yardy’s last two balls onto Happy Hill for back to back sixes to get the crowd going.

In the end, the wicketkeeper finished on 37 not out off just 18 balls with Nash unbeaten on 51 as the Spitfires posted 210 off their 40 overs.

The Sharks opening batsman came out all guns blazing against some wayward bowling with the Spitfires attack unable to subdue the aggresive pair of Luke Wright and Chris Nash and they easily brought up the fifty mark within just seven overs.

However, Darren Stevens made the breakthrough when he got a ball to nip back and demolish Nash’s stumps when on 20 with the score on 59 for 1.

It proved to be just the catalyst for the Sharks to attack even harder with England wicketkeeper Matt Prior in at three and he helped Wright along to his half century with only eighteen overs gone.

Prior chalked up his fifty with an almighty six against Tredwell down the ground in just the 26th over with the Sharks 166 for 1.

With the knowledge that Warwickshire’s game at Scarborough against Yorkshire was going to produce a result, the crowd began to slip away from the St Lawrence Ground to beat the traffic.

As the Spitfires became ever more desperate to find a wicket, runs became even easier for the Sharks as both Prior and Wright began to smash the ball to all parts.

In the end, they won with ten overs to spare as Simon Cook sent down a wide to finish the game with Wright picking up the man of the match award for his unbeaten ton.

From here, Kent head straight to Grace Road for their County Championship fixture that begins at midday on Tuesday.

 

Kent Spitfires won the toss and elected to bat.

Kent Spitfires side: Key, Billings, Northeast, Stevens, Blake, Nash, Jones, Tredwell, Coles, Cook, Davies.

Sussex Sharks side: Nash, Wright, Prior, Goodwin, Joyce, Yardy, Wernars, Brown, Beer, Magoffin, Liddle.

Umpires: R Kettleborough & J Lloyds

Result: Kent Spitfires 210 for 5 (40 overs), Sussex Sharks 211 for 1 (30 overs). Sussex Sharks won by nine wickets.