Kent’s NatWest T20 Blast match with Glamorgan went down to the very last ball, as the game between the sides at the SWALEC Stadium ended in a tie.

Chasing 178 to win, Darren Stevens’ magnificent 71, from just 39 balls, looked to have given Kent a great chance of pulling off an unlikely victory in Cardiff.

However, with just three runs required to win off the final over, Glamorgan’s Australian seamer Michael Hogan picked up two wickets in the last six balls, before Doug Bollinger was run out off the final delivery as he desperately attempted the single that would have won Kent the game.

Kent had looked dead and buried in their reply to the hosts’ 177-7, falling to 76-4 at the halfway stage of their innings when Alex Blake was out with 10 overs gone.

However, Stevens partnership of 73 with Sam Billings, who made 33, saw the pair turned the game back in Kent’s favour, before further wickets fell as the tail was not quite able to see the Spitfires home for the win.

Stevens fantastic knock also went alongside his figures of 3-22 from his four overs in the Glamorgan innings, as he produced yet another world-class display for his side with both bat and ball.

Kent had won the toss and elected to bowl on a pleasant summer evening at the SWALEC Stadium, and Stevens made an early breakthrough as he bowled the opening over, removing the dangerous Jacques Rudolph for just 1.

Skipper Jim Allenby and Mark Wallace then added an 76 together in seven overs, making the most of the powerplay by finding the boundary seemingly at will, and were looking extremely dangerous when Adam Ball came into the attack and broke the partnership, dismissing Wallace for 33.

Murray Goodwin made just 1 before being excellently caught low in the deep by Daniel Bell-Drummond, while Allenby went on to make 54 from 37 balls before being caught after skying one from Stevens.

James Tredwell’s first over had cost his side 14 runs, but when he returned to the attack with four overs of the home side’s innings remaining, he was much improved, having Ben Wright caught by David Griffiths attempting to reverse-sweep.

That same combination also saw for Chris Cooke in England spinner Tredwell’s next over, but not before the South African-born batsman had added a more-than-useful 34 from 25 balls.

Graham Wagg (3) was bowled by Bollinger in the penultimate over of the innings, with the hosts totalling 177-7 from their 20 overs; a score which always looked set to prove something of a tough target for Kent.

The Spitfires’ reply started reasonably enough, as Bell-Drummond and captain Rob Key added 34 in the first three, before former-West Indian captain Darren Sammy’s first over completely changed the momentum of the game.

He removed both of the Kent openers in the space of four balls, Bell-Drummond for 18 and Key for 15, and conceded just one run in the six balls, in addition to picking up the two wickets.

Sam Northeast (1) had faced just a single ball when he was run out by Dean Cosker, while Alex Blake made 22, including two fours and a six, before being bowled trying to reverse-sweep the same man, leaving Kent 76-4.

That brought Stevens and Billings together at exactly the halfway stage of Kent’s innings, and they added 73 together as they swung the game back in the Spitfires’ favour. Stevens scored six fabulous sixes in his knock, to go with two fours, so it was little surprise to hear such a joyous roar from the Glamorgan players and fans alike when he was caught by Cooke off the bowling of young off-spinner Andrew Salter for a 39-ball 71 with three overs to go.

The score had reached 149-5 on Stevens’ dismissal, with Kent still requiring a further 29 from the remaining 17 balls to win.

Billings added a six and a four in consecutive deliveries at the end of that over, before hitting Graham Wagg straight to extra cover for 33 with the first ball of the penultimate one.

Fingernails were being well and truly chewed by fans from both sides at this point, with the Spitfires requiring 11 from 9, before a six from Ball with eight deliveries remaining seemed to have all but secured the win for Kent, needing just three to win from the final 6 balls.

Michael Hogan’s final over was an absolute exhibition of death bowling, however. The first ball was a dot, before he trapped Ball lbw for 10 with the second and bowled Mitch Claydon for a golden duck with the third.

Doug Bollinger and James Tredwell scrambled a single each of balls four and five, before Bollinger was just unable to reach his ground off the final delivery, each side eventually having to settle for taking a point from an absolutely absorbing encounter.

The cheer that went up from the Cardiff crowd after the final delivery was testament to their relief for Glamorgan having managed to sneak the draw, after Kent had looked to have pulled off what would have been a fantastic win.

However, given the position they had found themselves in at the halfway stage of their reply, as on many occasions during his Kent career, the Spitfires had Darren Stevens to thank for a somewhat virtuoso display with both bat and ball in securing them any sort of result from the match at all.

Each side take a point from the game, and remain in third (Glamorgan) and fourth (Kent Spitfires) spots in the NatWest T20 Blast South Group respectively.

Kent will now remain in Cardiff with the sides meeting in an LV= County Championship game, again at the SWALEC, starting on Sunday.

 

Glamorgan vs. Kent Spitfires, NatWest T20 Blast, South Group, SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff, 13 June 2014:

Kent 177-9 (Stevens 71, Billings 33; Sammy 2-29, Hogan 2-30) tied with Glamorgan 177-7 (Allenby 54, Cooke 34, Wallace 33; Stevens 3-22, Tredwell 2-30)

Glamorgan: Rudolph, Allenby, Wallace*†, Goodwin, Cooke, Wright, Sammy, Wagg, Salter, Cosker, Hogan

Kent Spitfires: Key*, Bell-Drummond, Stevens, Billings†, Northeast, Blake, Ball, Tredwell, Claydon, Bollinger, Griffiths

Kent won the toss and elected to bat

 

Full scorecard available here

 

Picture supplied by www.sarahansellphotography.com