Kent Spitfires slipped to their first defeat of the season with a nine-run NatWest T20 Blast defeat to Hampshire at The Ageas Bowl on Thursday night.

Chasing 159 to win after a disciplined bowling performance on a slow, sluggish pitch, Kent fell from a promising position of 75/0 in the tenth over, to 149 all out with three balls to spare.

Daniel Bell-Drummond continued his sparkling early-season form with 64 from 51 balls, while Matt Coles took career-best T20 figures of 4/27 against the side he played for on his year away from Canterbury in 2014, but it was not enough for the Spitfires, who lost their 10 wickets for 74 runs in the space of 59 balls.

Hampshire’s line-up boasted a number of high quality international players, and they helped make the difference, as Darren Sammy, Shahid Afridi and Liam Dawson tied Kent down, taking wickets at regular intervals throughout the second half of the Spitfires’ innings to halt the visitors’ reply.

Kent won the boss and elected to field first, making two changes from the side that had beaten Somerset in their first NatWest T20 Blast outing of the season 10 days ago. Sam Billings, back from his spell in the IPL, came into the side in place of Adam Rouse, while Ivan Thomas replaced Mitch Claydon, who was missing with a side injury.

The Spitfires’ attack kept it tight throughout, with only former Kent man Michael Carberry passing 50 for the hosts. Hampshire skipper and England batsman James Vince made 7 before cutting David Griffiths, another facing his old club, to Alex Blake in the covers, while Jimmy Adams (18) was caught in the deep by Cowdrey to give Coles his first wicket.

All of the Kent bowlers kept things tight, with Hampshire falling to 72/3 after 11 overs, as Coles had Wheater (6) well caught at third man by a tumbling Griffiths.

Dangerman Shahid Afridi joined Carberry at the crease, and the pair put their foot down for the hosts, moving the score to 112/4 before the former Pakistan captain was bowled by Fabian Cowdrey for 21 in the slow left-armer’s only over.

Carberry brought up his half-century from 49 balls, and had made 54 when he became the first of Thomas’ two victims, excellently caught by a diving Coles in the deep. Three balls later, Sean Ervine attempted to paddle Thomas over the wicket-keeper’s head, and was easily caught by Sam Billings to depart for a first ball duck.

Coles then picked up his third and fourth wickets in the final over of the innings, Darren Sammy (27) and Liam Dawson (10) both caught in the deep as they attempted to plunder some late runs for their side; Hampshire eventually closing their innings of 158/8.

The hosts’ total may have looked a touch short, but given the slow nature of the pitch, run-scoring was far from easy, with no batsman on either side ever really looking able to find the boundary at will.

Kent’s reply started in perfect fashion. Fresh from adding a record-breaking 150 together – Kent’s highest ever T20 partnership – in the win over Somerset, Bell-Drummond and Denly added a steady 75 together inside the opening 10 overs before things started to go downhill.

Denly was bowled by Dawson for 31, which brought Kent skipper Sam Northeast to the crease, though he could only manage 2 before he was bowled by Afridi, trying to give himself some room to play to the off-side.

Sam Billings was Bell-Drummond’s next partner, but he could only make 3 before being trapped plum in front, lbw to Gareth Berg. The Spitfires had lost three wickets in 14 balls for just 11 runs at this stage, and though Darren Stevens was able to steady the ship alongside Bell-Drummond, he too fell as momentum then dramatically swung back in the home side’s favour.

Stevens was lbw to Hampshire debutant Sammy for 18, which brought Alex Blake to the crease. Blake was the man who produced a stunning performance to grab victory from the jaws of defeat in the corresponding fixture last season.

This year though, it was despair for the 27-year-old. In a pivotal moment in the Kent innings, and with it the match, Sammy produced a gem of a slower ball for Blake’s first delivery, that the batsman could only prod back to the bowler who took a smart caught and bowled chance.

Blake’s wicket left the visitors 112/5, at that stage still needing 47 from 31 balls, with the outcome still somewhat in the balance, but wickets starting to fall all-too-regularly for the Spitfires.

Bell-Drummond reached his half-century during his partnership with Stevens; his ninth score of fifty or more in as many matches across all competitions this season. When he fell in the 17th over, stumped by Wheater off Afridi for a 51-ball 64, and next ball Matt Coles could only loft the same bowler to Dawson at mid-on to go for a golden duck, Kent’s reply was in danger of folding completely. The score at 132/7, and with 27 still needed from 19 balls, and Fabian Cowdrey and James Tredwell looking to scrape home for an unlikely victory.

As it was, Kent fell of their target by 10 runs with three balls remaining. Cowdrey (8) played across the line to Gareth Andrew and was trapped lbw for 8, before Tredwell (3) had his middle stump uprooted by Tino Best in the penultimate over.

David Griffiths smashed the first ball of the final over for six, but when he edged Berg behind to be smartly caught by a diving Wheater two balls later, Kent found themselves all out for 149.

There is no doubt that 159 would have been a decent chase on a slow Ageas Bowl pitch, but given the strong position that they found themselves in at the halfway stage of their chase, Kent will have been disappointed to lose the way that they did.

The Spitfires will look to return their NatWest T20 Blast campaign to winning ways tomorrow night, with a quick turnaround seeing them face Gloucestershire in their first appearance of the season at Beckenham.

NatWest T20 Blast, South Group: Hampshire v Kent Spitfires at Southampton, June 2 2016:

Hampshire 158/8 (Carberry 54; Coles 4/27) beat Kent Spitfires 149 (Bell-Drummond 61; Afridi 3/33) by nine runs.

Hampshire: Carberry, Vince*, Adams, Wheater†, Afridi, Sammy, Ervine, Dawson, Andrew, Berg, Best

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

Full scorecard available here.

Photography courtesy of Steve Bailey