Kent’s experienced all-rounder Darren Stevens put in a majestic man of the match performance at The Oval on Friday night.

The 39 year old smashed a career-best 90 with the bat off only 39 balls and despite going for 39 runs he took four wickets – as The Spitfires rose to top the South Group.

The Spitfires won the toss and elected to bat on what looked a good toss to win and a batting friendly wicket and the visitors didn’t disappoint amassing their biggest ever T20 score against any county side – Along with Stevens there were valuable contributions by opener Daniel Bell-Drummond (38 off 27 balls), captain Sam Northeast (32 off 18) and Fabian Cowdrey (21 off 12).

The game started well for the hosts as spinner Zafar Ansari snaffled Joe Denly in the opening over – Kent’s opener clean bowled for 6 – but the incoming Northeast and Bell-Drummond took Surrey’s attack to task taking the opportunities for singles when available mixed in with boundaries and maximums

Bell-Drummond struck a leg-side six as he helped The Spitfires reach fifty in the sixth over and with the close of the six-over power-play Kent had reached a healthy and promising looking 64/1 however the end of the power-play saw the return of Ansari who took the wicket of in-form Northeast (32).

Youngsters Bell-Drummond and Fabian Cowdrey continued Kent’s impressive circa ten an over scoring rate playing the ball around the ground taking singles to keep the strike rotating and the score moving and as the halfway point approached Cowdrey succumbed to Tim Linley for a quick 21 – Kent reaching 97/3 at the ten over mark – with Cowdrey’s wicket seeing Stevens come to the crease…

Due to injuries, the hosts gave 17 yearr old Sam Curran his first class debut and the left-arm bowler had his turn in a nippy opening over going for nine with his first two deliveries dot-balls and catching out Stevens for pace and bounce, his third hooked for four by Stevens bringing up Kent’s 100.

In the thirteenth over Bell-Drummond’s cameo came to an end (32) – Darren Stevens later crediting DBD with his established innings helping him get himself in before his onslaught – bringing Alex Blake to proceedings.

Stevens and Blake maintained the scoring rate taken on by their predecessors as the rate continued to be around the ten an over mark and with five over’s remaining Kent were 144/4.

The Spitfires’ 150 was brought up with a wide plus two runs and the runs started to come as Stevo and Blake now turned the screw choosing to go aerial – They didn’t know it but the 21,717 crowd were about to be treated to an onslaught and chances to catch the ball for a grand in cash.

Linley going for 16 in the sixteenth over, Tom Curran 17 in the 17^th – All to Darren Stevens which also brought about his half century – and then the 18^th over from Burke went for 26 – Again all to Darren Stevens which also brought up Kent’s 200 which now became the highest T20 score by Kent against Surrey, surpassing the score at Beckenham only weeks earlier.

The innings’ penultimate over brought ‘only’ 15 runs and as Kent entered the final six balls sat on 219/4 with Stevens on 90 and seeking a T20 ton however after Blake unselfishly took a single off the first ball of the final over Stevens holed out to Foakes on the long-on boundary and his magnificent innings came to an end (220/5).

Blake succumbed two balls later (27) and Ryan Davies came in clubbing a six to bring about The Spitfires’ highest ever T20 score – Davies (6) out with the last ball of the innings – Kent closing on an impressive 231/7.

Surrey’s reply began in the worst possible way as Darren Stevens fresh from a great batting performance and adrenalin flowing struck in his and Kent’s opening over – Kapil (1) clean bowled and Surrey 1/1 – Although fellow opener Tom Curran looked to play freely with a large unlikely score chase and gave the visitors food for thought with a quick-fire 41 off only 22 deliveries – Curran running himself out in the seventh over and James Tredwell’s first over going for a second that was never there.

Curran was the third man out with Foakes out beforehand going to Thomas for 10 in the fifth over as the hosts closed the six over power-play at 60/2 – In the run chase Kent were 64/1 at the same point leaving the game tantalisingly poised in the early stages.

The hosts were certainly up for the chase and soon reached the halfway point bringing up there one hundred – Surrey were 101/3 and now ahead of the Kent score at the same point (97/3) although the scoring rate was such that the game could easily swing with one good, tight over or a wicket or two…

And The Spitfires soon struck as that man Darren Stevens got the breakthrough. Ansari, coming into the game with a better strike-rate than Chris Gayle, was caught on the boundary by Thomas – Breaking a 33-run partnership off 18 balls.

The wicket now left Surrey needing 102 runs to win from 42 deliveries but Vikram Solanki wasn’t to last as Matt Coles took his wicket getting the experienced middle order batsman for 8, caught behind by Davies – Leaving Surrey 148/5 – The Spitfires were now taking command and the crowd were beginning to see the writing on the wall for the hosts as their boisterousness increased with the league-leaders going about their business in a clinical way and with that Stevens applied a double-blow with the wickets of Gary Wilson (55 off 36 balls) and Burke (4) – Surrey now 157/7, 74 behind with a mere 24 balls left to bowl and Stevens adding 4/39 to his score of 90 off 39.

With all hope lost for the hosts and looking for an air of respectability they did make it to the 20th and final over on 175/7 however Mitch Claydon returned with a final flourish as he maintained a reputation for solid death bowling going for only two runs but also taking the final three wickets – Debutant Sam Curran (6) bowled and Linley soon following for a golden duck but although no’ 11 Matt Dunn survived the hat-trick ball, Claydon finished the innings bowling him with the final ball of proceedings, the hosts all out for 177.

With results going their way, Kent now top the South Group on their own with twelve points, two points clear of the field and will be hoping to bring the form of the one-day game into the four-day game as they travel to Northants for a midday start tomorrow – Kent bottom of the pack in Division Two of the County Championship but can certainly take heart from their batting and bowling performances in the two back-to-back T20 games this week.

 

Teams:

 

Surrey: Foakes, Kapil, Solanki, Wilson, Ansari, Burke, S. Curran, Batty, T. Curran, Linley, Dunn

 

Kent: Denly, Bell-Drummond, Northeast, Cowdrey, Stevens, Blake, Coles, Davies, Claydon, Tredwell, Thomas

 

Scores:

 

Kent: 231/7 (Stevens 90, Bell-Drummond 38; Linley 4/45)

 

Surrey: 177ao (Wilson 55, T. Curran 41; Stevens 4/39, Claydon 3/16)

 

Result:

 

Kent (2pts) beat Surrey (0pts) by 54 runs