Tom Banton hit an unbeaten century as Somerset beat Kent by 10 wickets in a harrowing defeat for the Spitfires in their latest Vitality Blast match.
After Kent posted a tame 167/8 with the bat, Banton and New Zealand international Devon Conway took apart the Kent attack to see Somerset to a historic victory on a night to forget for Daniel Bell-Drummond’s side.
Somerset captain Lewis Gregory won the toss and opted to bowl first in front of the Sky cameras, with Craig Overton opening the bowling for the visitors and Zak Crawley and Daniel Bell-Drummond the batting for Kent.
Crawley flicked the first ball of the innings for four, and the opening over went for 10. Jack Brooks’ over, the second of the game, was much tidier however, producing just the one run.
The first six came off the bat of Crawley at the end of the third over, and the Kent openers tried to accelerate – Gregory saw his first ball hammered over mid-on for six by his opposing captain.
Crawley was almost caught at extra-cover driving aerially, but the ball fell just short of the fielder. At the end of the powerplay, after a nine-ball over from Overton, Kent lost captain Bell-Drummond for 28, caught and bowled by Overton, with the Spitfires 53/1 after six overs.
Joe Denly countered the pace of Marchant de Lange with two fours through the covers, and the Spitfires reached 86/1 at the halfway stage of the first innings.
Zak Crawley was caught in the deep off the bowling of Lewis Gregory for 39 as fog began to swarm the outfield. Kent did however pass 100 in the 13th over, and Denly moved past 30 soon after with a big six down the ground off Gregory.
Denly was caught by de Lange on the long-on boundary going for another maximum for 36, but Alex Blake executed a maximum perfectly off the first ball of Overton’s final over towards the same boundary. He was out the very net ball however, caught at cover for 19 by Gregory trying to go aerial once again.
Jack Leaning was caught by Tom Lammonby off de Lange for five, but Darren Stevens and Jordan Cox took the hosts past 150. Stevens was caught in the deep however by Devon Conway for eight off Brooks.
Adam Milne was gone first ball of the final over, pulling a Gregory short ball straight to Will Smeed at backward square leg, and Kent closed on 168/8 after Qais Ahmed stood on his stumps first ball and Matt Milnes scooped the final ball for four.
Somerset openers Tom Banton and Devon Conway then knocked Joe Denly for eight off the first over of the visitors’ response, and Banton took to Matt Milnes in the second over, hitting him for four fours in an over worth 17.
Milne’s second over went for 21 as Banton raced to 41 from 19 balls, and his 50 was up from 22 balls with a top edge for six off the bowling of Fred Klaassen.
Qais Ahmed and Darren Stevens couldn’t halt the flow of runs, and Somerset passed 100 without the loss of a wicket with a leg side six for Tom Banton off Stevens.
Banton dealt Denly back-to-back sixes as he moved past 80, and the opener reached his century from 47 balls with a single – the milestone including seven fours and seven sixes.
Devon Conway reached his 50 from 42 balls as the result edged closer, and the New Zealander hit the winning run to see his side home to a dominant 10-wicket victory. Conway ended not out on 51, but the star of the show was Tom Banton, who closed unbeaten on 107 to humble Kent and deal them their first home defeat of the 2021 Vitality Blast.
Kent will aim to bounce back on Tuesday when they visit Sussex.
Somerset’s Tom Banton said: “I rode my luck to begin with, a few went just over the fielders but that’s cricket for you. Some days they’re going to go straight to hand, so I’ll take it.”
“I was nervous before the Hampshire game because obviously I had a few low scores, I think that’s the nature of how anyone would feel (so) I tried to exactly what I did last game and it came off.”
“Devon’s (Conway) been giving me a lot of stick recently for my football and cricket! But it’s still obviously nice to see one of the best in the world go about it.”
“He just kept coming down to me and saying come on let’s see it home, let’s win by ten wickets, so it’s always nice to have someone like that at the other end.”
Kent’s Daniel Bell-Drummond said: “It’s a tough one to take, I’m still trying to get my head round it. None of our batters quite got going and Banton’s 100 was outstanding.”
“The conditions did change a bit but not so much that we should have got thrashed by however many overs. It’s a tough one to take but we have to pick ourselves up for tomorrow. It’s still quite raw and it clearly wasn’t good enough.”