The Notts Outlaws have beaten the Kent Spitfires by four wickets in the first ever Vitality Blast Crossover match at Canterbury, after an outstanding innings by George Munsey.

Sam Billings hit 64 as Kent posted 184 for six,before Munsey, who briefly played for Kent in 2021, hit 82 from 47 after being dropped on six.

Matt Milnes took three for 30 to keep the Spitfires in it, but Munsey sealed the win with a huge six, with eight balls remaining, Notts finishing on 187 for six.

This was the first time these sides had met since a quarter-final at Trent Bridge in 2007, when Kent went on to win the competition, but this was a damaging result for the Spitfires, who have now their last three Blast games.

Notts chose to bowl and Mohammad Amir, signed just yesterday, had Harry Finch lbw to the second ball of the evening.

Zak Crawley hit 27 from 21 balls, but was out to the final ball of the powerplay, hitting Mohammad Ali to Freddie McCann at square leg, while Bell-Drummond looked good until he hit Ollie Stone to Jack Haynes at mid-wicket for 37.

Billings survived an umpire review. He hit Patterson-White for six over cover, then hit him right to the boundary but Stone was ruled to have touched the rope before he shovelled the ball to George Linde.

Billings hit the next ball for six, but Kent lost Joe Denly for 18 in the next over, stumped off Liam Patterson-White. Chris Benjamin was bowled by Benny Howell for four before Grant Stewart edged Stone and the keeper Tom Moores couldn’t take a difficult, diving chance.

Stewart hit a six off Amir that broke a window before he was caught behind off Amir for 22 off 13, while Billings went in the final over, skying Ali to Moores.

Joe Clarke hit for successive fours off Keith Dudgeon at the start of the fifth, but then hit him to Crawley at midwicket for 24.

Milnes then had Haynes caught behind for one but Munsey, who was spilled by Stewart off Fred Klaassen at fine leg, reverse swept Lintott for successive sixes.

Freddie McCann hit 25 from 16 until he drilled Denly to Milnes at cover, but the 13th over was a killer, Munsey hitting 20 off Lintott.

Kent’s hopes flickered when Milnes got two wickets in three balls. Moores went for 20, caught by Bell-Drummond again at cover, before he bowled George Linde for 1.

Fred Klaassen then splayed Benny Howell’s off-stump for two, before Liam Patterson-White almost took Bell-Drummonds hands off. If that had stuck Kent might have had a chance, but Munsey hit the next ball, a no-ball, for six.

Needing 13 off the last two, Patterson-White pulled Milnes for six into the third floor of the retirement flats, before Munsey, fittingly, clinched it with an astonishing blow over midwicket.

Nottinghamshire’s George Munsey said: “That’s why you play cricket: to try and get the team over the line and create some wins and special memories. It was a lot of fun out there, but a lot of tough points to get over. I think we kept winning the key moments, kept putting certain bowlers under pressure, and right the way through, put together lots of partnerships, making it hard for them to keep us down.”

“I didn’t need him to bowl a ball today to know how impressive (Amir) is. He’s world-class all around the world. Looking at our bowling and looking at their bowling, they probably assess the conditions a bit quicker than us, but then we pulled it back nicely and were quite tight through the middle.

“I think they did well. I think Billings batted really nicely, and I think we bowl well for most of the innings. I think both teams were pretty happy at the halfway stage, and with the short boundary, it’s very hard to defend. We knew we had to be smart and be tactical with the right bowlers at the right ends to try and maximise and get that score as small as possible.

“I got off to a slow start, kept hitting the fielders, and I was too invested in trying to find the way and the rhythm of the pitch to worry about the wickets. We’ve got batters all the way down, so I’m very comfortable if guys want to play the way they play, take some risks. The wickets column doesn’t really bother me. I have a deep belief in our batting order, so it was all about trying to assess the conditions, wait for the right end, and be really aggressive when the time was right.”

“Well, it became the plan (to target the short boundary) when I couldn’t score anywhere else. When you’ve got a small boundary and it’s with the breeze and the pitch is nice, you can really target where you want to hit the ball and make the bowlers have to go searching a little bit, and I think that was the key today.”

Kent’s Sam Billings said: “We’re getting ourselves into games of cricket and the lapses of concentration, I think three dropped catches maybe, two no balls that have gone for boundaries and as it’s Munsey that’s probably 40 runs. No one means to (do that) but that’s probably the difference.

“We’re playing six out of ten cricket and getting punished really. Matt Milnes has just been outstanding in every single game, he just gets better and better, he really is quality. Fred Klaassen bowled nicely tonight, all the guys chipped in but it was just those little moments like starting your over and not going for a boundary .We had enough on the board I thought, as it showed with those wickets but yeah, it just came down to those fine margins again.

“George Munsey is one of the best players of spin, he reverses , switches, he is very hard to bowl to. Jake’s been outstanding and this was his first bad game. It can happen in this format but he’s still been our best bowler by a mile. It is what it is, conditions became really tough , it definitely skidded on and got better under lights.

“It was tough but again, that’s where really good teams, I thought the guys who stepped in covered those overs really well. That’s why I had to take a gamble with Joe Denly to try and get an over in. Without six front line bowlers you’re kind of struggling for those overs. You had to be quite cute and some times it comes off and sometimes it doesn’t.”