Kent Spitfires suffered their second loss of the Vitality Blast at the hands of Surrey on Thursday.
They lost a final-ball thriller at The Oval by four wickets after Laurie Evans again produced a match-winning innings with the bat.
Kent replaced England-bound Zak Crawley with Harry Finch and Nathan Gilchrist came in for Fred Klaassen from the side that beat Hampshire on Sunday.
While Kent lost one player to England, Surrey gained one as Will Jacks returned to their line-up from international duty.
Tawanda Muyeye showed early intent in the powerplay, including hitting Surrey captain Sam Curran for a straight six in the second over.
Daniel Bell-Drummond quickly followed suit, a couple of leg-side boundaries off Nathan Smith were followed by a delightful straight dive from Chris Jordan’s second ball. But the fun ended three balls later, Bell-Drummond (19) safely taken by Curran at mid-on despite plenty of hangtime.
Finch came in at three and Spitfires, having posted 53-1 in the powerplay, advanced to 77-1 by the halfway stage of their innings as the boundaries dried up against a classy attack.
Muyeye advanced to Mitchell Santner but, having made the delivery into a full toss, promptly offered a return catch to fall for 37 off 30 balls.
Finch went in the same over to a diving catch at long-off, failing to clear the ropes in his 20-ball 19, and Spitfires were 79-3.
Joe Denly hit Dan Worrall for three boundaries in a row at the end of the 13th over as Spitfires looked to get moving again. But the outstanding Jordan had Sam Billings caught at deep square leg in the next over for three to halt their progress.
Denly hit Santner’s (2-24) penultimate ball for six and gave Smith the same treatment off the first two balls of the next over. Jack Leaning joined in with another six as Smith’s over cost 20.
Surrey turned to Jordan to make the breakthrough and he removed 39-year-old Denly for 40 off 22 balls, having put on 52 in four overs with Leaning.
Grant Stewart handed Jordan his fourth wicket of an excellent bowling effort as he finished with figures of 4-10 from four overs.
Leaning was removed by Curran (1-35) at the start of the penultimate over for 24 as three wickets tumbled in the space of five balls for two runs.
Tom Rogers (18 not out off seven) hit Jacks for a six over deep mid-wicket in the last over, which went for 18 and gave Spitfires a total of 171-7 to defend.
Rogers picked up the first Surrey wicket when, having already caused Dom Sibley (6) trouble with a short delivery, he was grateful to an excellent diving catch at deep square leg by Finch.
Jacks hit Wes Agar’s second ball over cover for four but the Australian hit back to bowl the England man for six with his next delivery. The hosts recovered to reach 39-2 by the end of the powerplay.
Denly didn’t field for the Spitfires and was replaced by Klaassen. It meant Leaning was introduced for the eighth over, after Matt Parkinson conceded three boundaries in what proved his only over of the evening, until he had to bowl the final last over.
Jason Roy and Curran regularly picked off a rotating Spitfires attack and the hosts had reached 83-2 at the halfway stage. Roy’s half-century arrived in the next over from just 26 balls as he creamed Stewart for successive boundaries.
The third-wicket stand had reached 90 in nine overs by the time Curran lofted Agar to Rogers and departed for 32.
Roy (56) wasn’t pleased when he was given out caught behind from a short Agar ball in the same over as Surrey reached 104-4 after 12 overs, still needing 68 to win.
Two balls after Tom Curran survived a run-out chance when he inadvertently got in the way of Gilchrist’s throw at the stumps, he departed without facing a ball when he failed to turn for a second run and was well out of his ground.
Laurie Evans hit successive sixes off Stewart to put Surrey back on track, leaving them needing 43 off the last five overs.
Kent’s need was more wickets and that meant Agar soon bowled out, returning excellent figures of 3-26.
Evans offered a difficult chance to the onrushing Leaning at long-on in the 17th over when he was on 24 and Surrey needed 28 off the last three overs, which still had to include six balls of spin.
An excellent diving catch from Rogers at long-on removed Santner for 14 to give Stewart (1-42) his only wicket as Surrey needed 19 off 12 balls.
Evans hit Rogers (1-20) for four down the ground at the start of the penultimate over, at which point Kent also had to bring an extra man into the circle as they ran out of time.
The next ball also went to the ropes as Evans emphatically moved his side closer to the finishing line.
Surrey needed nine off the final over which was bowled by Parkinson, and Jordan promptly missed the first ball before taking a single off the second.
Evans (46 not out) was on strike with eight needed off four balls. A straight drive for two was followed by a single. Jordan drove straight for two off the penultimate ball, leaving Surrey needing three from the final delivery.
Jordan slogged over deep mid-wicket to split the two fielders in the deep and send the home fans into raptures.
Spitfires return to action when they take on Somerset at Taunton on Sunday.
