Kent all-rounder Darren Stevens doesn’t want to get too carried away with the Spitfires chances of making a Lord’s final in the CB40.

Victory over the Yorkshire Carnegie by 30 runs at Canterbury on Wednesday night sees the Spitfires top Group C with just the one game against the Sussex Sharks to come at the St Lawrence Ground on Bank Holiday Monday.

Anything but a loss would guarantee the Kent Spitfires top spot in the group and crucially would give them a home semi-final tie and for Stevens it’s a game he can’t wait to play and he is determined they secure the last four game at the St Lawrence Ground:

“It’s a big game. They’re a fantastic side and I think they are in the hunt for all competitions, so they will be a tough side to beat. It will be all on the day as One Day games are, we’ll see what pitch we get and go from there.”

“It’s crucial that we get the home tie, certainly for the club and the supporters. As players, we just want to be in the semi-finals, we’re not bothered where we play it, but it would be nice for it to be at home, but we can’t get ahead of ourselves as we have got a big game on Monday to win first.”

Talk of the Spitfires chances of making the CB40 Final at Lords on Saturday 15th September isn’t just restricted to fans around the ground with Stevens admitting the dressing room have mentioned it once or twice and he is as keen as the most ardent Kent fan to make it there and win after two disappointments in the past:

“I have had two Finals at Lord’s, one with Leicestershire and one with Kent and lost them both, so it would be really nice to have a Lord’s Final and a Lord’s win.”

“Losing to Essex was hard to take when we played there, but we need to make sure we do one thing at a time and get there first.”

Victory over the Yorkshire Carnegie propelled the Spitfires to the top of Group C on Wednesday night and Rob Key picked up the man of the match award for his first one-day century in almost four years and Stevens was full of praise for his skipper:

“It was a very professional performance and very professional from the captain in all areas and was a great hundred.”

“On that pitch it was a great knock, because when I came out I asked him how it was playing and he said it was slow and low. I struggled to get the ball away, but he timed his innings well and chanced his arm at just the right time.”

Gauging how many runs to score when batting first can always be tricky for any side and Stevens told KSN how the side felt that scoring 226 was at the top end of where they wanted to be after their 40 overs:

“We got to our target as we were talking all the way through as to what we wanted. When Sam Billings got out, he came and said that if we could get somewhere between 200 and 220 it would be a good score.”

“That’s what we had in our minds all the way along and getting just over 220 was a bonus.”

“Bowling wise, they got off to a bit of a flyer. They did well against the new ball and chanced their arm a little bit, but everyone in the middle helped pull it back.”

At 117 for 2, Yorkshire Carnegie looked on course for a win that would have left the Spitfires needing a win to stand a chance of qualifying, but lost their last eight wickets for just 79 runs and Stevens felt that was down to some tight bowling that created pressure:

“We talked in the middle and put the pressure on and they crumbled. Lyth getting out to a great catch from Sam Billings tipped the balance, but Ballance and Gale put together a good partnership and it looked like they were in charge then.”

“However, Treddy got the stumping and then I picked up a wicket with the next ball so that changed the game nicely for us.”

“I kept looking at the screen and it said where we were and where they were at the same time and it kept saying they were ahead by 10 or 15 runs, but they were always two or three wickets worse off, so the pressure was on them as their main batters were back in the hutch.”

Once the CB40 game is out of the way on Monday, Kent head straight to Grace Road for the start of the Championship game against Stevens’ former side Leicestershire beginning on Tuesday and the all-rounder told KSN how it was going to be a busy week ahead:

“We have got seven days of work ahead of us as we practice on Saturday and Sunday, we play Monday and then up to Leicester for the game on Tuesday.”

“We’ve got a tough week ahead of us with me going back to my roots. They are playing half decent cricket in the four day stuff, so it will be a tough game for us.”

The coming week could well determine how the season is judged for Kent.

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