Kent Spitfires hopes of a NatWest T20 Blast quarter-final place were surely ended once and for all after a thumping defeat against Hampshire.
Going into the game at Canterbury on Friday night, Spitfires Head Coach Jimmy Adams had labelled the match a “must-win” encounter, but he saw his side come up well short, outplayed in all areas, and beaten by the hefty margin of 47 runs.
With four group game remaining in the competition, Kent will be well aware that their hopes of sneaking a quarter-final place are all but over, as they currently lie second-bottom of the nine-team South Group.
After losing the toss and inviting Hampshire to bat, the Spitfires saw their opponents post a total of 173-9 as they lost regular wickets but scored quickly at the same time.
Kent’s reply never really got going, as they found themselves short of the run-rate from ball one, eventually being bowled out for 126 in the penultimate over of the game.
With club captain Rob Key once again absent through injury, Darren Stevens led the side, bowling himself for the first over of the game and taking the wicket of Hampshire captain James Vince (4) early on.
He went on to remove Michael Carberry (18) in his second over, but not before the former Kent batsman had smacked four consecutive boundaries before holing out to midwicket.
Hampshire’s start was fast and furious, reaching 62-3 after their six powerplay overs, by which stage Mitch Claydon had removed Jimmy Adams for 15.
Dangerman Glenn Maxwell came and went for 13, dismissed by Ben Harmison, whose four overs saw him record figures of 1-34.
The largest partnership of the match saw Will Smith and Sean Ervine add 69 for Hampshire’s fifth wicket, before Smith played on to Adam Ball for 37. The visitors had already moved the score to 131 in the fifteenth over by this stage.
They went on to lose four more wickets before they closed their 20 overs – Wood and Abbott both going for ducks before Ervine was bowled by the impressive Claydon for a 35-ball 47; his knock including three fours and two big sixes.
Former Kent-man Matt Coles, playing against his boyhood county for the first time, made a quickfire 29 before being run out by bowler Claydon in the final over as Hampshire posted a total of 173-9, a score which Kent knew they would have to produce some 4th July fireworks to challenge.
As it was, the Spitfires never really looked like getting near it.
Hampshire bowled in disciplined fashion throughout, both starving the Kent batsmen of runs and sending them back to the dugout at regular intervals.
Daniel Bell-Drummond (1) and Sam Northeast both fell inside the powerplay, in which Kent posted 38-2; 24 runs short of what Hampshire had made in the same period.
Fabian Cowdrey made a 27-ball 22 before being stumped off Danny Briggs’ very first delivery in the tenth over, before the Spitfires’ main man and stand-in skipper Stevens top-edged a Will Smith ball in the next over to depart for 23.
Alex Blake and Sam Billings came together to try to produce something special for Kent, and for the odd moment it looked like they were in with half a chance, particularly when Billings sent a mammoth six into the top tier of the Frank Woolley stand off the bowling of Briggs.
They put on 40 together before Billings chopped straight to cover in the following over for 19, and when Blake departed for a top-scoring 26 shortly afterwards, the result was something of a foregone conclusion.
Billings’ wicket was the first of five to fall in the space of 15 balls as the Spitfires slipped from 114-4 to 119-9; Adam Ball (1), Ben Harmison (3) and Mitch Claydon (0) all failing to cause the scorers much trouble.
Adam Riley was eventually the last man out, bowled in the penultimate over by the impressive Chris Wood, who took 4-24, as Kent were dismissed for 126; Hampshire’s margin of victory a dominant 47 runs.
Kent’s attention now switches back to four-day cricket, as they take on Leicestershire in the County Championship at Grace Road, starting on Monday. They then travel to Hove to face Sussex in their next T20 game on Friday night.
Kent Spitfires vs. Hampshire, NatWest T20 Blast, South Group, The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, Canterbury, 4 July 2014:
Hampshire 173-9 (Ervine 47, Smith 37, Coles 29; Claydon 2-26) beat Kent Spitfires 126 (Blake 26; Wood 4-24, Abbott 2-14, Coles 2-24) by 47 runs
Kent Spitfires: Bell-Drummond, Cowdrey, Northeast, Stevens*, Blake, Billings†, Harmison, Ball, Tredwell, Claydon, Riley
Hampshire: Vince*, Carberry, Adams, Smith, Maxwell, Ervine, Wood, Abbott, Coles, Bates†, Briggs
Kent won the toss and elected to field
Full scorecard available here