A high-scoring match saw Kent Spitfires start their Vitality T20 Blast campaign with a four-run victory over reigning champions Gloucestershire on Friday night.
The visitors posted an impressive 208-3 after losing the toss, Daniel Bell-Drummond top scoring with 60, as he and Tawanda Muyeye (42) shared an opening stand of 98.
Zak Crawley (37) and Joe Denly (48 not out) then accelerated the scoring in the second half of the innings.
In response, the hosts managed 204-7, Ollie Price blasting 51, while Miles Hammond and Ben Charlesworth both made 38. Australian overseas Tom Rogers took 2-22 from four overs.
A light coloured pitch promised huge totals and it proved a tough baptism for Gloucestershire’s 20-year-old Aman Rao (0-21), signed from the South Asian Cricket Academy.
The 6ft 6in seamer’s two overs at the start of the Kent innings went for 21 – but were not without promise.
Bell-Drummond pulled an early six off Matt Taylor (0-46) as he and Muyeye took the score to 94 off 10 overs. They were parted when Gloucestershire skipper Jack Taylor (1-21) bowled Bell-Drummond after the opener had hit six fours and two sixes.
Tom Smith’s left-arm spin (2-39) accounted for Muyeye, who was caught at deep cover, having faced 33 balls.
Crawley and Denly worked together effectively, the former taking 26 off five balls sent down by Charlesworth (0-42) in the 16th over, including four sixes.
When Crawley fell to Smith, having faced just 17 deliveries, Denly went on the attack. He launched four maximums and three fours in his 24-ball blitz to take Spitfires beyond the 200-run mark.
Gloucestershire’s reply had reached 34 in the fifth over when Cameron Bancroft drove a catch to mid-on from Dutch international Fred Klaassen (1-37). It was 37-2 when James Bracey top-edged a delivery from Rogers and skied to wicketkeeper Billings.
Hammond hit three defiant sixes in an innings of 38 off 25 balls but, when he holed out to mid-on off Nathan Gilchrist (2-46) in the ninth over, Gloucestershire were 61-3 and well behind the required run-rate.
Price did his best to rectify matters, launching four sixes in an over from leg-spinner Matt Parkinson (0-37).
Jack Taylor brought the hundred up, smashing Grant Stewart (0-42) over wide long-on and followed up with another maximum in the same over, narrowly avoiding falling to a boundary catch.
He and Price had added 56 in just 3.5 overs when Denly (1-20) broke the stand, Taylor pulling a catch to deep mid-wicket.
Price went to a 25-ball half-century with a six off Gilchrist, but drove a catch to mid-off from the next ball to leave his side 127-5 in the 14th over.
Charlesworth and overseas recruit D’Arcy Short both hit sixes off Denly, but Short skied a catch off fellow Australian Rogers to make it 160-6.
When the gallant Charlesworth was run out off the fourth ball of the final over, the hosts’ race was run.
Rogers said: “It was a bit closer than we would have liked in the end, but everyone kept their composure in the field to clinch the win.
“It was a true pitch and we knew someone in a batting line-up that has a player of the calibre of D’Arcy Short at number seven would take advantage.
“At the halfway stage of their innings, we felt pretty comfortable.
“Someone had to do something very special for them from then on and, in fairness, they almost pulled it off.
“It’s a great start for us.”
Kent Spitfires will face Middlesex at Lord’s on Thursday before home T20 games against Surrey and Hampshire on Friday and Sunday, respectively, in Canterbury.
“Now, we go to Lord’s for our next game and I haven’t even been there – let alone played there – so I can’t wait,” added Rogers.
