The purple patch goes on at Oval
Kent Spitfires stretched their winning start in the T20 Blast to four games as they beat Surrey by nine wickets in a seven-oversper-side contest at The Kia Oval on Tuesday.
A delayed start followed by a rain stoppage after just one delivery saw the contest reduced twice – first to 13 overs and then seven.
Having won the toss and elected to field, Kent limited their opponents to 54-4 before chasing a winning score of 55-1 thanks to an unbeaten 43 from Mohammad Nabi.
Kent made one change to the side that beat Essex by 22 runs on Friday, with teenager Jordan Cox making way for Grant Stewart.
The hosts, meanwhile, were without skipper Jade Dernbach after he suffered a back spasm during Friday’s draw with Sussex, leaving Aaron Finch to captain the team.
Liam Plunkett was also still unavailable as he continues to nurse a thumb injury sustained against Glamorgan.
England duty saw Joe Denly absent again for Kent, along with Surrey’s Rory Burns, Sam Curran and Jason Roy.
Play eventually got under way at 8pm having been delayed for an hour-and-a-half due to rain throughout the afternoon, with conditions initially reduced to 13 overs-per-side.
That would prove short-lived as the players were ordered off again after just one Adam Milne delivery, which had skirted inches wide of Will Jacks’ offstump.
The game resumed at 8.50pm and was reduced once again, this time to seven oversper-side.
Hardus Viljoen picked up the first wicket of the game when he dismissed Jacks for five courtesy of a simple catch from Zak Crawley, leaving Surrey on 9-1 inside two overs.
He almost struck again immediately after as Ollie Pope found himself fortunate to avoid clipping behind to Ollie Robinson.
Finch finished a 2.1 over powerplay with a four back over Fred Klaassen’s head, before finding the boundary again straight after with a superb reverse sweep.
Heino Kuhn then produced an excellent catch in the deep to dismiss Pope off the bowling of Nabi, before Viljoen took out Jordan Clark’s off-stump for his second wicket on the night.
The next wicket fell to Milne as Tom Curran skied his delivery into the waiting hands of Klaassen.
Finch moved on to 36 not out as Surrey finished their seven overs on 54-4, with Viljoen picking up 2-10.
Kent lost skipper Daniel BellDrummond for just one in reply when he was trapped lbw by Imran Tahir.
In need of 41 from 30 balls after two overs, Kent were boosted by three sixes in four balls from Nabi, including two on the bounce, to move onto 35-1 after three overs.
Nabi eventually finished with five sixes and two fours on 43 not out to lead Kent to 55-1 and a ninewicket victory.