Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
We came up a bit short, admits hat-trick hero Coles
‘They were favourites but Mitch bowled brilliantly’ FIXTURES
Matt Coles joined an elite club with his T20 hat-trick against Middlesex but the Kent seamer was honest enough to admit the Spitfires simply did not play well enough to win at Richmond. Coles became only the third Kent player to take a T20 hat-trick in the final over last Thursday when he tempted James Franklin and John Simpson to hole-out to Alex Blake at long-on before demolishing Tim Southee’s leg-stump with the final ball to restrict the hosts to 179-8. However, despite half-centuries from skipper Sam Northeast (59) and Kiwi Jimmy Neesham (52), Kent closed on 163-8 in reply, to suffer a second successive defeat and their third in five South Group matches. Coles admitted it was ‘not all doom and gloom’ after his hat-trick but did feel Kent just came up short in the moments that mattered. Middlesex opener Brendon Mccullum played the game’s decisive innings, hitting 88 from 51 balls with six sixes and nine fours but the Kiwi dangerman was more than competitive. There were a couple of moments (in the Sussex reply) when the ball was flying out the park and it’s easy to lose focus but we hung in there and everyone played their part.
“We’ll take that point and you never know how important it might prove.” dropped early on by Northeast at shortcover. Coles said: “A total of 170 was about par so for them to get that extra nine was a bit tough. We missed a couple of chances which did not help much, we just missed out on critical moments of the game.” Mccullum and opening partner Dawid Malan (33) added 92 from 64 balls, after which Eoin Morgan (28) was the main home contributor as the hosts went from 156-2 to 179-8 in the space of 17 deliveries. At the heart of that was Coles, who admitted the slower ball which tempted Simpson was part of a plan he and Blake had put together after Franklin’s wicket. The 27-year-old, who also took a Royal London Cup hat-trick against Nottinghamshire in 2015, said: “Alex (Blake) said I need some more MVP (Most Valuable Player) points so I said ‘I’ll bowl another slower ball and it will come straight to you’, and that’s what happened. I said to him ‘There you go I’ve got you one more point at least’. “For the hat-trick ball I saw him (Southee) move so far aside I just thought I can’t not go for his leg stump.” Coles’ hat-trick feat follows Ryan Mclaren, in the 2007 final and Wahab Riaz in 2011, both against Gloucestershire, as he finished with 4-32 from his four overs. Kent made a nightmare start in reply, losing Daniel Bell-drummond and Joe Denly with only two on the board and they were 36-3 when Sam Billings went for nine. Hopes were raised when Northeast and Neesham added 75 but the challenge of scoring 69 from the final six overs proved beyond the visitors. They are back in action against Somerset at Canterbury today (Thursday, 7pm). They host Glamorgan, also at Canterbury, on Sunday (3pm) and travel to Southampton on Tuesday to take on Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl (7pm). KENT’S NEXT FIVE GAMES July 27 Somerset (Canterbury) ... T20 July 30 Glamorgan (Canterbury) ...T20 Key: T20 = Natwest T20 Blast, TM = Three-day tour match