Kent Spitfires suffered a seven-wicket T20 Blast defeat to Gloucestershire in Canterbury in front of the television cameras on Wednesday evening.
Harry Finch led the way in Kent’s 157-9 with 42 and although Adam Hollioake’s team fought back after an unusual delay – sun stopping play – Gloucestershire collected their first T20 South Group triumph at the sixth attempt as they beat Kent by seven wickets.
Tawanda Muyeye struck two boundaries off Josh Shaw’s (2-30) first over in a start that saw the home side move to 16-0 from two overs.
But Daniel Bell-Drummond went for three when he pulled Ajeet Singh Dale (3-24) to Ollie Price at mid-wicket.
Finch, 30, again stepped out at No.3 and sent Matt Taylor (2-36) for consecutive leg-side fours as Kent moved to 41-1 from five overs.
Muyeye had set the tone once more, only to find Australian D’Arcy Short on the leg-side boundary off Singh Dale’s bowling to go for 33.
Gloucestershire had already used six different bowlers by the halfway stage. But the hosts found a bit of impetus when Sam Billings and Finch switch-hit/reverse-swept Price (0-12) to the boundary as they moved to 81-2.
Billings drove spinner Graeme van Buuren (0-23) pleasantly to bring up Kent’s 100 and the 50-run partnership between the home duo to conclude their 13th over.
While 118-2 after 15 overs represented a reasonable run-rate, the lack of a six by this stage and some 11 leg-byes also showed why the home team had never fully looked in command.
Indeed, they lost Billings, 34, for 38 off 32 balls as Shaw took out his off-stump.
Joey Evison then picked out van Buuren from the excellent Singh Dale’s bowling for two, with Kent 131-4 after 17 overs.
Jack Leaning drilled his second ball for the hosts’ first six from Taylor but Finch went, attempting to follow suit for 42 – just shy of his career-high T20 score of 47.
He was excellently caught by Miles Hammond, who parried the ball back into play as he went over the leg-side boundary, before Australian Tom Rogers was dismissed for a golden duck. Rogers was the victim of a sharp grab by Ben Charlesworth.
That left Grant Stewart to face a hat-trick ball for the second match in a row, which he took a single off.
But Italian international all-rounder Stewart found Taylor from Shaw’s bowling to go for one.
The pressure was now firmly on Leaning to get Spitfires to a competitive score, although consecutive Leaning fours helped them move to 151-7 ahead of the final over.
But 31-year-old Leaning was bowled by the economical David Payne (1-18) for a quickfire 18 off the second ball of the over and Fred Klaassen was run-out from the next delivery, trying to scramble a single to Australian wicketkeeper Cameron Bancroft.
Kent did at least fulfil their allocation, however, as Australian Wes Agar blasted the penultimate ball to the ropes.
The away side endured a similarly sedate start to their run-chase but two leg-side fours by Short off Dutch bowler Fred Klaassen (0-30) helped them to 23-0 from three overs.
Strangely, there was a stoppage in play at 8.15pm due to low sunlight, which led to the players heading off the field – to a fair bit of amusement – after Short had hooked Agar (0-36) for a leg-side maximum.
But the players weren’t off for long and play resumed after an eight-minute delay before Hammond launched a massive leg-side six in the same Agar over.
Leaning’s spin (0-9) was introduced in the fifth over, although he went for nine to leave the away side 45-0 and well ahead of the required run-rate.
Kent were in desperate need of a wicket and got one when Short skied Rogers (1-30) high into the air and Billings held his nerve to take the catch to dismiss the 34-year-old for 33 off 21 balls.
That left Gloucestershire 54-1 at the end of their powerplay after another Hammond four.
But in the following over, Bancroft fell for three. He was caught by a sprawling wicketkeeper Billings off Evison’s bowling (1-28).
Spitfires had firmly fought their back into the game by now, with Rogers taking a good catch at long-off from Matt Parkinson’s bowling (1-27) to go for 25 from 19 balls in the eighth over.
It meant the match had been evenly-poised at the halfway mark of Gloucestershire’s run-chase, with the visitors 76-3.
Home joy then soon soured shortly after when 28-year-old Agar castled Price off a no-ball in what looked a marginal call, with Price getting a second life in the 12th over when Parkinson dropped a caught-and-bowled attempt.
At the other end, visiting captain Jack Taylor took 13 from the three balls of the 13th over, including a maximum to bring up their 100.
And Gloucestershire were seemingly back in the box-seat again at 123-3 with five overs to go and 35 runs needed.
That required run-rate went under a run-a-ball for the first time after another productive over off Klaassen for Price and Taylor.
With the victory line in sight for the defending champions, Taylor brought up his half-century off 35 balls at the end of the 18th over to leave just three runs required from two overs for their win.
Taylor sent them across the line with a boundary to fine-leg with 10 balls to spare.
He finished 54 not out in the 98-run stand while Price was unbeaten on 41.
Spitfires skipper Billings won the toss and batted first, making one change from last Sunday’s four-run victory at Somerset as spinner Parkinson replaced fast bowler Nathan Gilchrist.
Kent, on 14 points with three wins and a no result from seven fixtures, will face Essex at Chelmsford in the Blast on Friday night.
