Kentish Express Ashford & District
No room for error in Blast bid
Sam Northeast admits there is probably no room for error if Kent Spitfires are to secure a return to the knockout stages of the NatWest T20 Blast.
The skipper saw his side fall well short in their latest game against Middlesex at the Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, on Friday night, with the visitors inflicting a fifth defeat in seven South Group games on last year’s group winners and beaten quarter-finalists.
Brendan McCullum and Dawid Malan’s century stand in less than nine overs laid the foundations for the 40-run win and Northeast admitted: “When a team scores 210 runs against you it’s going to take a seriously good effort to chase that down. We just didn’t bowl well enough.”
He claimed: “Malan and McCullum took the game away from us. From ball one they struck it very cleanly – we were trying to play catch-up the whole game, really.
“We’re going to have to have a pretty serious look at how we go about things bowling-wise, especially plans etc and then we’re going to have to win probably six out of our seven remaining games or even all seven to qualify.”
Northeast claimed there were some positives to take – two stunning catches from James Tredwell, four wickets from Darren Stevens and a career-best 71 from Fabian Cowdrey.
He said: “I thought there were some good parts – I thought Treddy and Stevo bowled well, but when they’ve got momentum like that they can keep going through that middle period.
“We were a little bit sloppy at times and also slow on the over rate and got done for six runs there. A lot of things didn’t go our way and to chase 210 is a big ask.”
He added: “We wanted to get ahead of the game but we lost two quick wickets. We then steadied it a little bit but then I got out at the wrong time – I probably needed to go on and get a big one which is a shame.
“Fabian played really nicely in a tricky situation – he’d have had to have played a very good knock to get us over the line there. He showed everyone what he can do. Hopefully going forward we can see a bit more of him.
“You’re not going to win too many games chasing 210 – everything would have had to go pretty well.” BB McCullum not out ........................87 D Malan c Tredwell b Stevens ...........60 PR Stirling c Tredwell b Stevens ........12 JEC Franklin run out ...........................1 JK Fuller b Stevens .............................1 JA Simpson c Blake b Stevens ............2 NRT Gubbins c Northeast b Hunn ......11 RF Higgins not out ............................17 Extras (b 1, lb 4, w 42, nb 4, pen 6) ...19 JL Denly c Franklin b Roland-Jones ....6 SA Northeast c Podmore b Franklin ...41 FK Cowdrey c Fuller b Roland-Jones .71 AJ Blake c Fuller b Sowter ..................3 SW Billings c Podmore b Fuller ...........7 DI Stevens c Sowter b Fuller .............17 JC Tredwell not out ............................... 10 ME Claydon not out .............................2 Extras (lb 3, w 2, nb 8) ........................7
1- 0, 2-19, 3-76, 4-97, 5-131, 6-145, 7-164.
TS Roland-Jones 4- 0-24-3, JK Fuller 4- 0-38-2, HW Podmore 3- 0-33- 0, JEC Franklin 3- 0-31-1, NA Sowter 4- 0-16-1, PR Stirling 2- 0-25- 0. JA Rudolph lbw b Stevens...................6 MA Wallace b Coles ............................0 WD Bragg c Rouse b Claydon............35 CB Cooke c Latham b Claydon ..........46 AHT Donald c Rouse b Claydon ...........9 DL Lloyd c Tredwell b Haggett ...........26 GG Wagg c Tredwell b Claydon ..........83 CAJ Meschede c Rouse b Haggett.....78 AG Salter not out...............................20 T van der Gugten c Rouse b Haggett ...4 MG Hogan c Rouse b Claydon ...........20 Extras ...............................................24
1-5, 2-7, 3-95, 4-100, 5-129, 6-137, 7-297, 8-308, 9-318, 10-351.
MT Coles 20-2-96-1, DI Stevens 18-5-54-1, ME Claydon 234-106-5, CJ Haggett 18-2-70-3, JC Tredwell 1- 0-11- 0. SA Northeast c Wallace b Wagg ..........6 SR Dickson c Wallace b van der Gugten .. 75 DI Stevens b Meschede ....................14 AP Rouse lbw b Hogan ......................65 CJ Haggett c Wallace b van der Gugten .24 JC Tredwell not out ...........................37 MT Coles c Bragg b Hogan..................0 ME Claydon lbw b van der Gugten.......0 Extras ..............................................11
T van der Gugten 26.3-479-5, MG Hogan 19-8-24-2, GG Wagg 25-4-90-2, CAJ Meschede 12-1-481, AG Salter 6- 0-32- 0. JA Rudolph c Haggett b Claydon .......11 MA Wallace c sub (CF Jackson) b Coles .52 WD Bragg b Coles .............................22 CB Cooke lbw b Claydon ...................17 AHT Donald lbw b Tredwell ...............67 DL Lloyd c Latham b Claydon..............0
ME Claydon 15-4-50-3, DI Stevens 12-3-28- 0, MT Coles 163- 47-2, JC Tredwell 12-1- 64-1, CJ Haggett 9-2-39- 0, JL Denly 5- 0-240, TWM Latham 2- 0-5- 0, SR Dickson 1- 0- 4- 0, SA Northeast 1- 0-1- 0.
PW Glamorgan ....... 7 5 Gloucester ....... 8 5 Middlesex ........ 7 4 Sussex............. 7 3 Surrey.............. 8 4 Somerset ......... 7 3 Essex ............... 4 Glamorgan ....... 4 Somerset ......... 4 Kent................. 4 Middlesex ........ 4 Hampshire ....... 4 Surrey.............. 4 Gloucester ....... 4 Sussex............. 4