Kent Spitfires made it two defeats in three days as they lost their second T20 game of the campaign against Surrey at Canterbury on Sunday.

Having been set 177 to win in the glorious sunshine, the Spitfires were to come up short by 31 runs.

Kent skipper James Tredwell kept faith with the side that had lost to the Middlesex Panthers on Friday night with Mark Davies once again named as twelfth man.

It was Surrey skipper Gareth Batty that won the toss and had no hesitation in electing to bat first in the Canterbury sunshine.

Surprisingly Tredwell opted to open the bowling with Adam Riley and Mitchell Claydon with Vernon Philander given the third over of the innings.

It was Jason Roy and Steven Davies that had the better of the six over powerplay, taking 55 runs from it as the pitch looked more than helpful for the batsmen.

The introduction of Matt Coles into the attack proved incisive straight away as he had Roy caught and bowled for 16.

That served to bring former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting to the wicket, getting a great reception from the appreciative Canterbury crowd.

It wasn’t long after that Davies brought up his fifty (32 balls with 9 fours), sweeping James Tredwell to the boundary.

At the halfway stage of the Surrey innings, Davies and Ponting had guided the visitors to 81 for 1 setting a decent platform for the lower order to strike in the latter overs.

Content with working the ball around and Davies having the odd dart at anything loose from Riley, the pair brought up the Surrey century inside the 13th over.

Ricky Ponting smashed Matt Coles for one huge six that cleared the ground in the 14th over, but the Spitfires bowler was to have his revenge on the last ball of his tight four over spell forcing the Aussie to smash the ball up in the air, taking a superb diving caught and bowled.

At 114 for 2, the game was still there for the taking and another Aussie, Glenn Maxwell, was to come to the crease.

Slowly but surely Davies was content on picking off the bad balls as he comfortably passed 80 with Vernon Philander and Mitchell Claydon given the responsibility to bowl the last four overs of the innings.

Going into the final over, Surrey were 158 for 2 with Davies closing in on his century, but Maxwell had the strike smashing Claydon down the ground for six.

He was to keep the strike until the penultimate ball of the over when he drilled the ball to Sam Northeast at cover for 32 leaving Azhar Mahmood one ball to face and he slammed that ball down the ground for six leaving Davies unbeaten on 95 and Surrey had posted 176 for 2 in their 20 overs.

It was a strong start for the Spitfires with Sam Northeast and Rob Key plundering runs for fun in the powerplay overs, but Key was to lose his wicket when on 17 looking to smash Jade Dernbach out of the ground for the second time in the over, with the ball spiraling up in the air and coming down into the hands of Jon Lewis.

At 40 for 1 after 4 overs and Sam Billings in at three for the Spitfires, there was a real chance to kick on but the wicketkeeper chipped Azhar Mahmood to Ponting at mid off for just one leaving Kent 42 for 2.

Some considered batting saw the Spitfires through to 87 for 2 at the halfway point of their run chase with Darren Stevens and Northeast happy to milk the bowling whilst picking off the bad balls.

Just as it seemed like the Spitfires were well on top, Stevens was to fall lbw to Jon Lewis for 30, leaving the side still 80 runs to win.

Northeast was to bring up his fifty off just 41 balls, but no sooner than he had he lost partner Ben Harmison for seven, as he picked out Ricky Ponting on the long on boundary as he attempted to blast Batty out of the attack.

Alex Blake’s stay at the crease didn’t last too long either as he tried to pull a short ball from Zander de Bruyn but only managed to stick it straight down the throat of Roy on the boundary edge for 9 leaving the side still 51 to get.

Matt Coles was to fair no better as he was bowled by de Bruyn for 0 as he tried to play a shot that just wasn’t there.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the only man in, Sam Northeast was to be bowled by former team-mate Azhar Mahmood for 61, with the side still 50 runs short of their victory target.

At 128 for 7 and both Tredwell and Philander at the crease, the Spitfires knew they really needed to go some to score fifty in the last four overs and it wasn’t to be in the end.

Tredwell was to be bowled by Dernbach for one at the end of the 18th over as he looked to clip the ball of his legs.

Mitchell Claydon was to hole out on the long off boundary for 1 as he tried to punt Dernbach down the ground picking out Glenn Maxwell.

In the end it mattered not as the Spitfires were to be comfortable losers.

 

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

Surrey Lions side: Roy, Davies, Ponting, Maxwell, Wilson, Ansari, Mahmood, de Bruyn, Batty, Lewis, Dernbach.

Result: Surrey 176 for 3 (Davies 95no), Kent 145 for 9 (Northeast 61). Surrey won by 31 runs.