VICTORY BREEDS CONFIDENCE

Sam Northeast hailed Alex Blake’s match-winning knock against Surrey as special – happy that Kent Spitfires had stopped the rot after two successive T20 defeats.

Blake hit 66 not out off 62 balls to see home an exciting one-wicket Royal London One Day Cup win with a six off the second-last ball of the match but the Kent skipper says they should have won more comfortably.

Northeast said: “It was a game that we should have won with about 10 overs to spare.

“We were cruising at one stage but Surrey would probably admit they came up short after being 1002 with Kumar Sangakkara about to kick into overdrive, so the bowlers did well to reduce them to 250.”

Kent lost four wickets for four runs in as many overs at one stage but Northeast said: “These things happen in cricket. There are hardly any games where you have a perfect performance but it would be nice to win a game in a dominating fashion.

“We are good enough to do that, stamp our authority on games and not leave it to the last moment.”

He added: “It’s nice to have a player like Blakey coming in when we are in a bit of trouble.

“He has done it a few times for us now and it was important to get over the line.

“Hopefully, that breeds a little bit of confidence in the camp after two losses. We started off well beating Somerset in the T20 and have done the same in 50 overs.”

Northeast also revealed Blake is struggling to find the right bat – having used three in his knock on Sunday.

He said: “Alex is probably one of the best finishers in the county game at the moment. He knows his areas and sticks to them and hits a clean ball.

“He is having a bit of a bat crisis at the moment – god knows what he will do when he gets some decent sticks in his hands. “Blakey is confident in the oneday format – he knows his game well. “James Tredwell played an important role at the end as well, it wasn’t ideal or perfect on the day but a special knock saved us.” Mitch Claydon looked set to miss the Natwest T20 Blast game against Hampshire with a side strain last night (Wednesday) but could return against Sussex at Hove tomorrow (Friday).

Meanwhile, young spinner Imran Qayyum was back in Second Eleven action this week, after retiring hurt with concussion, batting against Gloucestershire 2nds at Polo Farm in Canterbury last month.

Kent 2nds won both their T20 matches against Essex at Billericay on Monday, to revive their hopes of making the knockout stages for the second successive year.

Kent DJ Bell-drummond st Wheater b Shahid Afridi .64 JL Denly b Dawson ...........................31 SA Northeast b Shahid Afridi ...............2 SW Billings lbw b Berg ........................3 DI Stevens lbw b Sammy ..................18 AJ Blake c&b Sammy .........................0 FK Cowdrey lbw b Andrew ..................8 MT Coles c Dawson b Shahid Afridi .....0 JC Tredwell b Best ..............................3 DA Griffiths b Berg ..............................8 IAA Thomas not out.............................0 Extras (lb 4, w 6, nb 2) ......................12

Total (all out, 19.3 overs) 149

Fall: 1-75, 2-80, 3-86, 4-112, 5-112, 6-132, 7-132, 8-137, 9-143, 10-149. Bowling: LA Dawson 4-0-27-1, GM Andrew 2-0-15-1, DJG Sammy 3-0-202, GK Berg 3.3-0-30-2, Shahid Afridi 4-0-33-3, TL Best 3-0-20-1. Hampshire won by 9 runs. Points: Hampshire 2, Kent 0. Umpires: NGB Cook and RJ Evans.

KENT v GLOUCESTERSHIRE At Beckenham Gloucs won toss

Kent DJ Bell-drummond c Roderick b Tye..25 JL Denly c JMR Taylor b Norwell .........2 SA Northeast c Cockbain b Howell ....35 SW Billings c Norwell b Howell ............7 DI Stevens b Tye ...............................11 AJ Blake not out ...............................24 FK Cowdrey c Dent b Tye ..................18 MT Coles run out ................................8 Extras (b 1, lb 1, w 6, nb 6) ...............14

Total (for 7 wkts, 20 overs) 144

Fall: 1-13, 2-40, 3-65, 4-83, 5-90, 6-121, 7-144. Bowling: MD Taylor 4-0-33-0, LC Norwell 3-0-32-1, TMJ Smith 4-0-26-0, AJ Tye 4-0-18-3, CDJ Dent 1-0-8-0, BAC Howell 4-0-25-2.

Gloucestershire M Klinger c Blake b Tredwell ............27 HJH Marshall b Stevens ....................56 IA Cockbain c Billings b Thomas .......37 CDJ Dent not out ..............................11 BAC Howell not out .............................4 Extras (b 4, w 1, nb 6).......................11

Total (for 3 wkts, 19.2 overs) 146 Fall: 1-66, 2-130, 3-132. Bowling: MT Coles 3-0-18-0, DA Griffiths 3-0-34-0, DI Stevens 2.2-0-201, JC Tredwell 4-0-28-1, FK Cowdrey 4-0-21-0, IAA Thomas 3-0-21-1. Gloucestershire won by 7 wickets. Points: Gloucestershire 2, Kent 0. Umpires: RJ Bailey and BV Taylor.

KENT v SURREY At Beckenham Surrey won toss

Surrey JJ Roy c Bell-drummond b Tredwell .32 SM Davies c Bell-drummond b Griffiths .23 KC Sangakkara c Tredwell b Cowdrey .58 RJ Burns c Blake b Stevens ..............30 GC Wilson c Billings b Coles ..............11 ZS Ansari c Bell-drummond b Coles .30 SM Curran c Northeast b Tredwell ....22 TK Curran b Griffiths .........................11 MW Pillans not out ............................16 GJ Batty* not out...............................11 Extras (lb 4, w 5, nb 2) ......................11

Total (for 8 wkts, 50 overs) 255