Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Spitfires suffer double Blast blow
Kent Spitfires slumped to two Natwest T20 Blast defeats in the last week. They suffered a nine-run defeat in their South Group game on Thursday night at Hampshire, despite Matt Coles producing a career-best spell with the ball, claiming 4-27 as the hosts were restricted to 158- 8. Daniel Bell-drummond (64) also continued his blistering form with another half-century but Kent fell narrowly short at the Ageas Bowl. A bright start to the Spitfires’ reply was undone by the loss of three wickets in just 13 balls amid a fiveover spell without a boundary. Joe Denly was bowled for 31 by Liam Dawson to end a 75-run partnership with Bell-drummond for the opening wicket in 58 balls. Darren Stevens, with a quick 18, was the only other batsman to get into double figures, as Kent continued to regularly lose wickets, with Fabian Cowdrey twice having to see off hat-trick balls off the bowling of Shahid Afridi (3-33) and Darren Sammy (2-20). Kent needed 16 runs off the final over and although David Griffiths hit Gareth Berg’s first ball for six, he was dismissed two balls later to leave Kent 149 all-out. Earlier, former Kent man Michael Carberry spent more than 17 overs in the middle for his 54 before falling to Thomas (2- 42). Jimmy Adams added a lively 18 but the hosts were 112- 4 with 25 balls to come and only Sammy’s 27 from 15 balls saw them reach 158-8 at the close. Kent’s second defeat followed less than 24 hours later as Gloucestershire overcame a tricky Beckenham pitch and fading light to pull off a sevenwicket win with four deliveries to spare.
Gloucestershire were endebted to a half-century from Hamish Marshall as they replied to Kent’s modest 144-7. Openers Michel Klinger (27) and Marshall posted the only half-century stand of the night to ease to 54- 0 and despite Klinger falling to Tredwell, the visitors continued to make light work of tough task in tricky conditions. After 14 overs, the umpires discussed the gloom and allowed paceman David Griffiths to continue, although Ian Cockbain hit 13 off the over. Cockbain (37) was caught behind off Ivan Thomas soon after before with only 13 required to win, Marshall was bowled by Darren Stevens for a matchwinning 56 from 42 balls. With six needed and Coles out of the attack due to the bad light, Stevens bowled the final over but Chris Dent launched a straight six for victory. Earlier, Northeast top scored with 35, Bell-drummond made 25 and Alex Blake 24 not out as Kent stuttered to their total. Gloucestershire bowler Andrew Tye’s four overs saw him collect 3-18, while Benny Howell ended with 2-25 as the hosts mustered only 11 fours and no sixes in their innings. Blake said: “It was a slightly slow wicket but they bowled well on it and mixed it up, especially Tye, who didn’t seem to bowl the same delivery two balls in a row. “I struggled to reach the ropes let alone clear them and in the end we just tried to reach a score we felt we might stand a chance of defending. We almost did that but overall we were second best in tricky conditions.” Kent, who hosted Hampshire last night (Wednesday), travel to Hove to face Sussex tomorrow (Friday, 7pm).