Kent’s hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Vitality Blast have been left hanging by a thread after defeat against Somerset on Friday evening.

Somerset guaranteed themselves a home quarter-final in the  Vitality Blast with a five-wicket win over the Kent Spitfires at Canterbury.

Riley Meredith took three for 19 as the hosts were held to a paltry 137 for 8 from 20 overs, Joe Denly their top scorer with 40.The visitors survived a mid-innings wobble, when they stuttered to 73 for 4 and were effectively five down with Tom Banton unable to bat, to win with nine balls to spare.

Tom Abell was unbeaten on 34 while Lewis Gregory top-scored with 37.Somerset chose the bowl and got the fastest possible vindication when Craig Overton bent Tawanda Muyeye’s middle stump backwards with the first ball of the night.

In the next over Riley Meredith sent Harry Finch’s off stump flying for one, but the visitors were dealt a blow when Banton suffered a hand injury and Tom Kohler-Cadmore had to take the gloves.

When Meredith had Sam Billings lbw for 11 the Kent captain punched his bat in frustrationand just as it looked like Chris Benjamin might be rebuilding with Denly, Gregory bowled him for 20.Denly pulled Ben Green to the sub Tom Lammonby at cow corner, and Lammonby took his second catch when Joey Evison swished Meredith to mid-wicket for five.

It was 109 for 6 when there was a 23-minute delay due to dazzling sunlight. When play resumed Jack Leaning was run out by Jake Ball from a direct hit for 37 and Kent had to play the final over without a recognised batter. Wes Agar hit Green’s first ball for six but was then caught behind without adding to his score and although Nathan Gilchrist hooked the final delivery for six, the total looked meagre.

The chase was more fraught than anticipated: Kohler-Cadmore went for just two, hoicking Agar to Finch on the square leg boundary and Parkinson had Goldsworthy caught by Muyeye at deep mid-wicket for 14. Will Smeed was run out for 36 by Denly from cover, chasing a wildly optimistic single and at the halfway point in the innings the visitors were 62 for three and behind on DLS.

Yet although Sean Dickson was lbw in the next over to Evison for 4, Abell and Gregory played sensibly before taking 13 off Denly in the 15th over.By the time Gilchrist bowled Gregory for 37 in the 18th, Somerset needed just eight to win. Green levelled the scores with four off an Agar full toss and then scrambled a single to seal the win.

Somerset remain clear at the top of the South Group table while Kent now have to win their remaining two games and hope other results go their way to have any hope of reaching the quarter-finals.

Speaking after the defeat Joe Denly said: “I think we weren’t quite able, I guess, to get on the front foot early. I think in T20 cricket, that’s important, especially against top side like Somerset. They made it hard for us from ball one, really. Literally ball one. It felt like we was always chasing it a little bit. We weren’t quite able to get going, certainly through our batting period. Like I said, Somerset aren’t… When they get ahead, they very rarely let you back in.
“Yeah, it was obviously a used wicket and a little bit on the slow side. Actually, a little bit on the lower side, I think early on, there was balls bouncing before the keeper, and it made scoring, fluent scoring, quite tough. I think that showed throughout the whole game.

“We knew when we were defending a target like that, we would have to be on it from ball one. They got off to a relatively decent start, but I think we clawed it back quite nicely. There was a period there in the middle where we thought we were just getting ahead in the game. Lewis came in and played quite smartly with Tom Abell at the other end and didn’t really take any risks. We weren’t able to force any errors, really. Matt Parkinson, I thought, bowed really well and beat the bat a few times and looked like he was going to get us really back in the game. But like I said, they played pretty smart cricket and saw their team run.

Images courtesy of Kent Cricket