Kent under GrahamB (v12.24)

[GrahamB]

KENT v HAMPSHIRE (Twenty Over Cup 2013)

Michael Carberry carried his bat, scoring 71no as he guided the visiting side to a solid 149/7.
Darren Stevens was again the pick of our bowlers with the fine figures of 2/22.

There were nervous jitters amongst the home crowd though, as Kabir Ali cleaned out both openers in his first over.
However, Dominic Cole is showing real composure and class. He has worked hard on his offside game and is becoming a very complete player.
Cole effortlessly stroked his way to 87no as he steered us to victory, although he did run out two of his partners along the way.
Danny Briggs (2/26) and Kabir Ali (2/33) caused us a few headaches along the way.



One win and one loss to date.

[GrahamB]

KENT v SURREY (Twenty Over Cup 2013)

Surrey were just too strong for us.
Pietersen and Kallis put our bowling to the sword as their side amassed a formidable 177/4.

The weather then became very cloudy and we were never in the hunt, struggling to hit much needed boundaries.
Even though Key and Powell developed a good partnership, Linley (3/23), Nannes (0/19) and Spriegel (2/26) strangled us quite nicely.



Surrey seem to be the team to beat in our group.

[GrahamB]

ESSEX v KENT (Twenty Over Cup 2013)

Essex made a complete hash of their batting effort in very cloudy conditions.
Our pace bowlers had an absolute field day, with Stevens (3/9), Philander (3/10) and Procter (2/16) all nicely improving their bowling averages.

There was a clearing in the weather when it was our turn to bat, but that wasn't expected to last long, so we went for broke!
Rob Key led the way, showing controlled aggression in his unbeaten knock of 43 as we completed victory in just the eleventh over of our reply.



Things are looking promising at this stage, but still early days.

[GrahamB]

HAMPSHIRE v KENT (Twenty Over Cup 2013)

I'm thinking that our batting might not be strong enough in this form of the game to see us progress past the group stage. However, I could be pleasantly surprised.

Philander (2/23) was the only one of our bowlers to impress, as Hampshire made 174/5.

Again, we just couldn't keep up with the required run rate, despite going hard right from the start of our innings.
Cole anchored the innings with 48, but Ambrose was the only other batsman to contribute as we fell well short at 121/7.



Our prospects hang in the balance.

[GrahamB]

KENT v MIDDLESEX (Twenty Over Cup 2013)

We are getting crunched by overseas imports and our batsmen just can't compete.
This time it was Kohli and Rogers who smacked our bowling around, as Middlesex scored an imposing 186/4.
Phliander (2/33) disappointingly had little support from our other bowlers.

Dominic Cole tried to keep our chances alive as wickets fell around him, but when we went, only Philander could show fighting resistance.
Finn almost singlehandedly wrecked the guts of our batting, with an unbelievable spell of 5/24!



Racking my brain as to how we can do better in this competition.

[GrahamB]

News

After that last defeat, we had a good, hard look at ourselves and came up with some new ideas to see if we could turn our fortunes around in the "hit and giggle" form of the game.

And then came the news that Philander had been called away for further International duty. Of course, we're delighted for him, but with Matthew still unavailable, we're faced with an even tougher challenge now.

[GrahamB]

SUSSEX v KENT (Twenty Over Cup)

Batting first, our innings was at the crossroads at 82/3, before Key and Ambrose combined in an unbeaten partnership to get us through to 162/3.

With Prior and Gatting were going great guns at 88/1, we looked to be in trouble.
However, our bowlers stepped up to the mark in style to turn the game around, with Tredwell and Murtagh picking up three wickets each as we bowled the home side out for 136.



Still in with a chance, but it will be tough!

[GrahamB]

SURREY v KENT (Twenty Over Cup 2013)

Surrey are just too strong for us.
Pietersen (65), Davies (38) and Flavin (39no) provided the bulk of the runs as Surrey scored 156/4.
Both of our spinners stood out, Tredwell with 2/26 and young Riley also with 2/26.

The only two of our players who were able to get on top of the renowned bowling attack were newly promoted youth player Ben Birch (26) and Ambrose (43).
Linley (3/17), Kartik (3/23), Nannes (2/10) and Spriegel (2/18) all showed why Surrey are just a fantastic all-round team at prsent.



Nothing much to say, except we're not semi-final material yet.

[GrahamB]

News

20 year old opening batsman, Ben Birch, has been promoted from our youth team on trial for the remainder of the season.
He's unlikely to get much of an opportunity to show his talent though, because we're well served by Key and Naylor at present.
However, if his second team form warrants it, then we'll take another look.

Mervin Matthew has returned from International duties to bolster our bowling attack, but at present it's the batting that is of concern.

[GrahamB]

KENT v ESSEX (Twenty Over Cup 2013)

What a heartbreaking loss. Essex needed 10 runs to win from the final over and took the win from the final ball of the match!

Key (66) and Cole (33) paved the way for us to reach 158/5, but that was always going to be a borderline score on this wicket.

Things were going well for us when we had the visitors at 20/3, but ten Doeschate (40), Shah (22) and Franklin (58no) steered their side through into a position from which they could win.
Murtagh, who was our best bowler on the day with 3/30, was entrusted with bowling the final over and had a wicket with the first ball. With nine runs needed off the final three deliveries, James Franklin hit 4,2 and 3 to pull off a victory that we thought was going to be ours.



Our slim chances of going through have now been well and truly extinguished. We'll be playing for pride in the final match of this competition.

[GrahamB]

MIDDLESEX v KENT (Twenty Over Cup 2013)

We finished off our Twenty Over Cup season with a good win over Middlesex.

Ambrose (29), Stevens (26) and Cowdrey (29no) were the main contributors as we struggled through to 141/7 on a difficult wicket.
Berg (3/25) and Ireland (2/28) were the most successful bowlers for the home side.

With Mervin Matthew needing to be rested and the pitch favouring pace over spin, Andy Carter and Charlie Shreck were rewarded for their fine form at second team level with recalls to the top playing eleven, and boy did they deliver!
Shreck (3/25), Carter (3/27) and Beckett (2/15) were all impressive as we bowled high-flying Middlesex out for just 109.



Pretty sure that our finish was a slight improvement on last season's effort? Must take a look.

[GrahamB]

Back to the Challenge Trophy now, with Worcestershire visiting us.
Hopefully we can do better in this tournament.

Here are the opposing line ups:

[GrahamB]

KENT v WORCESTERSHIRE (Challenge Trophy 2013)

This was just cruel.

Ali (40) and Dicks (44) had got Worcestershire into a solid position at 117/4, but we were happy that things were under control.
Then Pathan went nuts, smashing 42 off 23 balls to put the visitors in control.
Regardless, we felt that we should be able to chase down their 209/7.
Matthew was the best of our bowlers taking 4/27, while Beckett was also tidy with 1/34.

We were going along nicely at 98/2, with Cole (37) and Blake (28) together, but then the wheels started falling off as we slumped to 131/6.
Ambrose (24) and Beckett (35) took us through to 177/7, but we really needed one of those two to see us through till the end.
As it was, the tail enders very nearly got us home, but it was heartbreaking to fall just two runs short.
Russell (3/31) and Pathan (2/36) stood out amongst the Worcestershire bowlers.



Three from six now.

[GrahamB]

No changes to our side for the trip to Leicestershire for the next Challenge Trophy match.

[GrahamB]

LEICESTERSHIRE v KENT (Challenge Trophy 2013)

We were more than happy with our 249/7.
Key (40) got things going and then Cole (47) and Blake (79) kept up the momentum.
Naik (3/42) was the pick of the Leicestershire bowlers and left us wondering whether she have taken both of our spinners into the game.

When we had the home side at 24/2, things were going well.
Then Sarwan and Eckersley launched a prolonged assault on Stevens and Beckett to get ahead of the required run rate. Trapping Sarwan plumb in front off a no-ball and dropping Eckersley behind the stumps didn't help!
We brought Tredwell on to try and stop the charge, but it was too late. Eckersley fell for 61, but Sarwan carried on his merry way to a match-winning 124.
Tredwell was the best of our bowlers, finishing with 2/41.



We've got our work cut out again here.