The Kent Spitfires cruised to an emphatic eight wicket win over the Surrey Lions at Beckenham in the Twenty 20 on Sunday afternoon.

A majestic 51 not out from skipper Rob Key and a blistering 43 from Darren Stevens saw the home side to victory with over three overs to spare.

The Lions posted just 116 for 7 in their 20 overs with Gary Wilson top scoring with 53 not out, but in the end it was never enough as the Spitfires chased down 117 with ease.

Key looked to pick off the bad balls whilst Stevens was in hard hitting form, smashing 4 sixes in his 43 off just 25 balls.

It could have been ever better for the Spitfires had Wilson not been put down twice on his way to his half century, but the Lions made heavy weather against a probing Kent attack.

Yet again, Mark Davies was hard to put away and his four overs at the start of the Surrey innings went for just 18 runs and the former Durham man set the tone picking up the wicket of Jason Roy with the first ball of the match as the opener picked out Rob Key at extra cover.

Lions captain Rory Hamilton-Brown made just seven before he managed to sky one from Matt Coles into the waiting hands of Azhar Mahmood with the Lions only mustering 25 for 2 in the powerplay overs.

Tom Maynard got somewhat bogged down and only hit seven off seventeen balls before launching into Adam Ball, but was distraught to see Coles come in off the boundary and pull off a fine diving catch.

At the other end, England keeper Steve Davies had been working himself into a solid position, but when trying for a second run, he was to find himself a few inches short of his ground as Sam Billings direct hit from the deep left him stranded on 31 off 27 balls.

Matt Spriegel fell shortly after as he edged Ball behind to the waiting gloves of the ever reliaible Geraint Jones with Surrey then in deep trouble at 62 for 5.

A 51 run partnership between Wilson and Zafar Ansari took the Lions score closer to some respectability, but they couldn’t accelerate with James Tredwell and the Kent attack keeping things tight.

In the end, Ansari skied one from Azhar Mahmood into Adam Ball’s hands for 15 with Gareth Batty clean bowled by the all-rounder for nought off the last ball of the innings, leaving Wilson unbeaten.

The Spitfires came out to chase down the 117 and did it with composure and ultimately with ease as Key and Sam Billings set the tone.

The opening pair looked to work the singles, whilst picking off the bad balls as the Surrey attack struggled to penetrate Kent’s tight defence.

Billings particularly took to the express pace of Stuart Meaker, crashing him to the boundary twice before Jade Dernbach had him lbw for 18.

Azhar Mahmood couldn’t really get going for the Spitfires and walked past one from Ansari leaving Steve Davies with a comfortable stumping when on six.

That brought Darren Stevens to the wicket with the Spitfires still needing 67 runs to win, but he and Key looked as calm as ever as they firstly worked the ball around, before laying into the Surrey attack with complete disdain.

Stevens was in a hurry to finish the game as he smacked four sixes, whilst Key was quick between the wickets and picked off the bad balls, hitting them to the boundary with ease.

Key was to finish on 51 off just 46 balls in an innings that included five fours and a six with Stevens settling the game with his fourth maximum off the ineffective Ansari.

The record books will show the Kent Spitfires won by eight wickets. What they won’t show is quite how comfortable they looked throughout the entire game.

From here, Kent move on to Chelmsford for their next Twenty20 game against Essex on Wednesday night before back to back games against Hampshire on Friday night at the Rose Bowl and on Sunday afternoon at Canterbury.

 

More to follow…..

Surrey won the toss and elected to bat

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

Surrey side: Roy, Davies, Hamilton-Brown, Maynard, Wilson, Spriegel, Ansari, Batty, Meaker, Kartik, Dernbach.

Umpires: N Bainton & S O’Shaughnessy.

Result: Surrey 116 for 7 (20 overs), Kent 120 for 2 (16.2 overs). Kent won by eight wickets.