Part time side Unicorns pulled off a shock as they beat Kent Spitfires by four wickets in the CB40 clash at Canterbury on Sunday afternoon.

Former Somerset batsman Keith Parsons led the way for the Unicorns as he saw his side home with an over to spare, smashing an unbeaten 46 in an enthralling clash at the St Lawrence Ground that saw Kent lose their unbeaten record.

It was Kent that won the toss and elected to bat first in the chilly conditions at Canterbury with Rob Key and Sam Billings once again opening the innings as the home side kept faith with the same eleven that beat Yorkshire in the win a couple of weeks ago.

Billings lasted just eight balls before Glen Querl picked up his fist wicket of the day, with Alex Blake going to the same bowler for eighteen off 21 balls with the wicket already showing signs of its slowness.

Key was stumped by former Leicestershire keeper Tom New when he tried to loft slow left armer Luke Beavon down the ground, falling for 14 with the score at 41 for 3.

Darren Stevens did little to ease the nerves when he was caught by Reece for 8, with Beaven taking his second wicket of the day, leaving Kent staring down the barrel at 50 for 4.

A fifty partnership between Brendan Nash and Sam Northeast steadied the ship for a while with the former eventually run out for 26 as he tried to pinch a single, but Campbell was accurate with his throw.

100 for 5 became 101 for 6 when Geraint Jones was beaten by a decent ball by Luis Reece and he glanced it behind to New behind the stumps.

James Tredwell hung around with Northeast for a while, scoring 14, but wickets then tumbled on his departure with Querl taking his third wicket of the afternoon trapping him lbw.

Former Kent seamer Warren Lee then got in on the act as he dismissed Matt Coles who picked out Parsons with Adam Ball departing shortly after with Querl taking his fourth wicket of the afternoon.

The innings was finally wrapped up one ball short of the forty overs when Northeast was run out for a well constructed 69 that took in four boundaries as Kent closed on 165 all out.

The Unicorns set about their task of chasing down 166 quite calmly with the run rate nothing to shout about at first, with James Ord and Michael Thornely happy to work the ball around.

Thornely finally succumbed to a good ball from James Tredwell for 9 with Geraint Jones pulling off a fine diving catch.

Ord and Tom New then carried on where the opening pair had left off as they continued to knock the ball around, picking off the bad balls as and when they could.

The former finally went for 31 as he edged Adam Ball behind with James Campbell going the same way in the England Under 19 captain’s next over.

The experience of New and Parsons then laid the platform for the Unicorns to put themselves in a strong position with New finally falling to Tredwell for 35 as he picked out Alex Blake.

Still needing 54 off 62 balls at that point, the Unicorns looked to move the game forward, but a slight wobble came their way when Tredwell picked up his third and fourth wickets in successive balls as he had Reece caught by Key for 12 and had Bradley Wadlan trapped lbw the very next ball.

In the end, Tredwell finished with respectable figures of 4 for 24 in his eight overs.

It was then down to Parsons and Querl to see their side home as they maintained their composure with Kent failing to pick up the wickets they so badly wanted.

In the end, it was Parsons that clipped the winning single, but Querl offered great support in his 24 off just 21 balls to see the Unicorns home with the six balls to spare.

Kent now have a couple of days to prepare for the next County Championship fixture with Leicestershire coming to Canterbury this week with the four day game beginning on Wednesday.

Kent won the toss and elected to bat.

Umpires: NGB Cook & NGC Cowley

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

Unicorns side: Thonely, Ord, New, Campbell, Parsons, Reece, Querl, Lee, Beaven, Cheetham, Wadlan.

Result: Kent 165 all out (39.5 overs), Unicorns 166 for 6 (39 overs). Unicorns won by four wickets.

Pictures by Sarah Ansell. To see more of Sarah’s pictures, visit www.sarahcanterbury.com