Walker: It’s knockout cricket
Championship T20 Blast, CC = County Key: T20 = NatWest Matt Walker says Kent are already in the knockout stages of the NatWest T20 Blast – despite the quarter-finals not getting under way until next week. After a superb six-wicket win at Somerset last Saturday, the Spitfires know that victories at Essex tonight (Thursday, 7pm) and at home to Surrey at Canterbury on Friday would be enough to guarantee a top-four finish in the tight South Group. Head coach Walker said: “These are like quarterquarter finals I suppose, we’re already into the knockout games. “You’d hope that going into the last couple of group games that you’d have already qualified because you don’t want to be scrapping for your lives. “But it’s good that it’s still in our hands. We know what we have got to do. It’s a good position to be in, not relying on anything. “They are two tough games against our old rivals but we have beaten them both already in the group and so they hold no fear for us. We have still not won back-to-back games in the entire competition but we’re going to have to do it now. “We have not really been at our best so far, although we have seen some individual brilliance at times and been brilliant here and there. “We probably should have won a couple more games and you just hope that we can get over the line and it doesn’t come back to bite you in the end.” Kent go into the game bottom in South Group but with just one point separating seven of the nine sides. He said: “It’s such a competitive group and the table shows the quality of the sides in it. Everyone is beating everyone else and nobody has really picked up any momentum. “Nobody has pulled away and nobody has been cut adrift. At this point you normally expect two or three teams to be fighting it out for the last one or two places. “A lot of teams have lost games to the weather while we have managed to avoid that so far. “All we want is the opportunity to play two games this week, get two wins and everything is perfect.”
1-35, 2-25, 3- 40, 4-74, 5-117, 6-131, 7-141, 8-146, 9-147, 10-149. Bowling: Imran Qayyum 3- 0-32-1, JDS Neesham 4- 0- 43-2, AF Milne 3.5-1-11- 5, ME Claydon 3- 0-16-1, CJ Haggett 4- 0-39-1, DI Stevens 1- 0- 5- 0. JL Denly c Waller b Groenewald ........33 DJ Bell-Drummond c Hildreth b Gregory..19 SA Northeast c Hildreth b van der Meekeren ..4 SW Billings not out ............................56 DI Stevens c&b van der Merwe .........17 JDS Neesham not out .......................15 Extras (lb1, nb4, w2) ...........................7
Total (for 4 wkts, 18.2 overs) 151 Fall: 1- 40, 2- 44, 3-77, 4-113. Bowling: MTC Waller 4- 0-34- 0, RE van der Merwe 4- 0-28-1, PA van Meekeren 2.2- 0-23-1, C Overton 4- 0-22- 0, L Gregory 2- 0-15-1, TD Groenewald 2- 0-28-1. Somerset 0, Kent 2. N Cook, J Lloyds. JL Denly b Abbott b Dawson ...............0 SA Northeast c Bailey b Dawson .......59 SW Billings b Wood ...........................40 DI Stevens run out ............................15 JDS Neesham c Vince b Abbott ...........5 AJ Blake not out .................................9 MT Coles c Afridi b Berg .....................4 CJ Haggett not out ..............................6 Extras (b1, lb2, nb2)............................5 Fall: 1-0, 2- 48, 3-114, 4-134, 5-144, 6-148, 7-157. Bowling: LA Dawson 4-1-25-2, GK Berg 4- 0-29-1, CP Wood 3- 0-31-1, MS Crane 3- 0-32- 0, KJ Abbott 4- 025-2, S Afridi 2- 0-22- 0. CM Dickinson c Coles b Claydon .......51 JM Vince b Claydon ..........................57 TP Alsop st Billings b Qayyum ...........32 S Afridi b Stevens ...............................1 GJ Bailey not out...............................16 SM Irvine not out ................................1 Extras (nb4, w9)................................13
Total (for 4 wkts, 17.2 overs) 171 Fall: 1-72, 2-151, 3-152, 4-163. Bowling: MT Coles 2- 0-21- 0, JDS Neesham 3- 0-32- 0, Imran Qayyum 4- 048-1, ME Claydon 3- 0-33-2, CJ Haggett 3- 0-21- 0, DI Stevens 2.2- 0-16-1. Kent 0, Hampshire 2. P Baldwin, T Robinson.
PW Glamorgan ..... 13 6 Hampshire .... 13 7 Middlesex ...... 13 5 Sussex........... 13 4 Essex ............. 12 5 Somerset ....... 13 5 Surrey ........... 12 5 Gloucester ...... 13 4 L 3 5 6 5 5 6 5 5 T N/R Ps 0 4 16 0 1 15 1 1 12 1 3 12 0 2 12 0 2 12 0 2 12 1 3 12