Kentish Express Ashford & District
Spitfires fail to see out run chase
Kent Cricket
Kent Spitfires suffered an agonising one-run defeat to Surrey before another sell-out crowd in the T20 Blast at Canterbury on Friday.
Chasing the Surrey total of 171-7, Kent were given the perfect start by Daniel Bell-Drummond and Zak Crawley whose brilliant century opening stand looked to have set up a successful chase.
Crawley went to a competition best 59 while Bell Drummond made 64 – his third T20 half-century of the summer.
But Surrey then applied the brakes and when Jade Dernbach removed Bell-Drummond and Alex Blake in the penultimate over Kent were suddenly up against it.
They needed 12 runs off the last over, bowled by Sam Curran, and six from the final ball to win, but Heino Kuhn could only manage four.
Earlier an excellent spell of 3-22 by spinner Imran Qayyum had pegged Surrey back before a brilliant knock of 63 by Will Jacks rescued them from 117-6, with 52 runs coming from the final three overs.
Kent went into the contest without Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi –whose deal has finished –and New Zealand paceman Adam Milne, who underwent surgery on his ankle on Tuesday.
Matt Milnes – with 45 championship wickets to his name – was handed his T20 debut alongside 21-year-old offspinner Marcus O’Riordan, who only signed his first professional contract earlier this month.
Surrey’s blistering finish with the bat could have given them the momentum when they bowled but Bell-Drummond and Crawley completely took the sting out out of their attack.
They had the odd slice of luck, but both men looked largely accomplished.
Crawley reached his maiden fifty from 30 balls with two fours and three sixes.
Bell-Drummond followed suit with the score at 112 but the stand was ended three runs later when Crawley was stumped by Ben Foakes off Imran Tahir.
Bell-Drummond and Kuhn (32 not out) added 39 and the hosts looked comfortably on course with 24 needed from the final 18 balls.
However Bell-Drummond fell in the penultimate over, caught at cover by Mark Stoneman off Jade Dernbach having faced 49 balls and hit seven fours.
Blake followed three balls later for two, leaving Kuhn and Sam Billings to try and score 12 from the last over which proved just beyond them.
There was a nice touch before the start of the game when the injured Milne was awarded his county cap by skipper Billings.
Spitfires close out their group matches at home to Gloucestershire tomorrow (Thursday) and at Essex on Friday night.