Kent Spitfires saw their NatWest T20 Blast quarter-final hopes all but ended as they were comfortably beaten by Essex Eagles on Friday night.

In front of a raucous, sellout crowd at Canterbury, it was the Spitfires’ local rivals from across the Dartford Bridge who came out on top, securing a 33-run win under The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence lights. Essex’s victory moved them above Kent in the South Group table, and leaves the Spitfires’ hopes of a quarter-final spot looking highly unlikely at best, and dependant on a number of other results to go their way to leave them any chance.

The game was largely dominated by the visitors, though one positive for Kent was the return of Matt Coles, playing for the first time since the County Championship encounter away at Glamorgan last month. The bustling seamer bowled well on his reappearance in the side, taking 2-28 from his four-over allocation as Essex racked up 190/2 batting first.

In reply, Kent could only muster 157, bowled out with four balls to spare in their innings; Darren Stevens top-scoring with 33; his highest score in this year’s T20 competition to date.

After winning the toss and elected to bat, Essex skipper Ravi Bopara would have been pleased with his side’s efforts in racking up 190/2 from their 20 overs. It was not a pitch for real big-hitting, harum-scarum T20 batting as is sometimes the case at Canterbury, but more one where good strokeplay and sensible attacking shots were rewarded.

Both Essex openers made a start before being dismissed by Coles. Nick Browne made 19 before lofting the Kent seamer towards the midwicket boundary, where Kagiso Rabada, in his final appearance for the club before he rejoins South Africa, took a high-quality diving catch. Rabada went wicket-less in his four overs, but showed great commitment in the field throughout, typified by his catch. It is the kind of effort that has really endeared Rabada to the Kent fans in his short spell at the club, though he stated in his interview post-game that he would love to return to Canterbury in the future.

That he went for just 28 with the ball showed his class, particularly given he sent down two no-balls in the very first over of the match, but came back strongly afterwards.

Browne’s opening partner Dan Lawrence had scored 27 and was beginning to look dangerous when he fell in the ninth over, well caught by Kent captain Sam Northeast after skying a Coles delivery. That left Essex 71/2 just before the halfway stage of their innings, but unbeaten half-centuries for Tom Westley, who made 74 from 49 balls, and Bopara, who made 51 from 35, saw the visitors post a competitive total.

Most of the pair’s runs in their unbroken partnership of 119 came from clever shot selection, rather than smashing the ball to the boundary. They found the rope wherever possible, however, and added a useful 16 runs from the final over of their innings, as David Griffiths struggled to keep them in check.

Chasing 191, Kent would have felt they were in with a decent chance on what appeared to be a steady batting deck, but as it was, they never really got going.

Daniel Bell-Drummond made 12 before being caught and bowled by David Masters, who showed all of his experience in an excellent spell of 2-29 from his four overs at the start of the innings, while Joe Denly was bowled for 21 by Graham Napier leaving Kent 48/2 at the end of the powerplay.

Sam Billings fell for just 1 from the first ball post-powerplay, well-caught by James Foster standing up to the stumps off the bowling of Masters, while Sam Northeast made 22 and was beginning to look dangerous before he was bowled by the off-spin of Lawrence. With Kent 63/4 in the ninth and with all of their top four back in the dugout, it was already looking to be an uphill struggle, and so it continued as regular wickets fell throughout the innings.

Alex Blake made 19 before being caught behind by Foster off Bopara, while Coles, coming in at seven, picked out Matt Quinn off the bowling of Ryan ten Doeschate to go for 7 and leave Kent 88/6 in the 12th, by which stage the result was already looking to be a formality.

Bopara continued his strong all-round performance by running out James Tredwell (4) with a direct hit, Rabada was dismissed for a first ball duck lbw to ten Doeschate, and though Stevens showed fight in making 33 from 25 balls, he too was dismissed, bowled by Napier to be the penultimate wicket to fall.

Mitch Claydon (15 not out) and David Griffiths (8) added an entertaining 31 for the final wicket before Griffiths was bowled by Napier in the final over. That left the visitors celebrating a 33-run win which leaves them with a decent chance of making the quarter-finals, and looks set to leave Kent waiting another year for a crack at a knockout-round place in the shortest form of the game.

The Spitfires will now turn their attentions back to longer-form one-day cricket, as they take on Middlesex at Lord’s on Sunday in the Royal London One Day Cup competition.

NatWest T20 Blast, South Group: Kent Spitfires vs Essex Eagles at Canterbury, Friday 22 July 2016:

Essex Eagles 190/2 (Westley 74*, Bopara 51*; Coles 2-29) beat Kent Spitfires 157 (Stevens 33; Napier 3-29, ten Doeschate 2-23, Masters 2-29) by 33 runs.

Kent Spitfires: Bell-Drummond, Denly, Northeast*, Billings†, Blake, Stevens, Coles, Tredwell, Rabada, Claydon, Griffiths

Essex Eagles: Lawrence, Browne, Westley, Bopara*, Zaidi, ten Doeschate, Foster†, Taylor, Napier, Masters, Quinn

Points: Essex Eagles 2, Kent Spitfires 0

Full scorecard available here.

Photograph courtesy of Sarah Ansell Photography