Kent 170 for 6 (Finch 53*, Abbott 3-16) beat Hampshire 168 (Abbott 37, Swanepoel 3-28) by four wickets
Harry Finch played an innings of Boycott-like obstinacy to see the Kent Spitfires home by four wickets in their Metro Bank Cup Group game with Hampshire at Beckenham.
Chasing 169 to win, Kent lurched to 96 for 6 before Finch and Charlie Stobo (32 not out) responded with an unbeaten partnership of 74.
Beyers Swanepoel had taken three for 28 as Hampshire were bowled out for 168 in 41 overs and they’d needed 37 from No.10 Kyle Abbott to give them a defensible total. Dom Kelly and Nick Gubbins were their next highest scorers with 32 each.
Beyers Swanepoel had taken three for 28 as Hampshire were bowled out for 168 in 41 overs and they’d needed 37 from No.10 Kyle Abbott to give them a defensible total. Dom Kelly and Nick Gubbins were their next highest scorers with 32 each.
Abbott then bowled 10 overs for just 16 runs, taking three wickets, but as the visitors began to tire Finch, who at point had a strike-rate of just five, started to accelerate, finishing on 53 not out from 94 balls.
Hampshire chose to bat on what looked like a typically benign Beckenham wicket, but turned into anything but. A combination of poor shot selection and a smothering display in the field by Kent saw them post a target that looked well below par at halfway.
They lost Fletcha Middleton in the second over for four when he edged Swanepoel to Jack Leaning at second slip.
Swanepoel was swinging it both ways and he took two wickets in five balls during the eighth over, bowling Tom Prest for seven before getting Ben Brown for a duck at the end of the over.
When Grant Stewart had Toby Albert caught behind for a duck Hampshire were reduced to 24 for four. Joe Eckland joined Gubbins for a partial rebuild, but after making 21 he was deceived by a short ball from Charlie Stobo and caught at deep square leg by Stewart.
Felix Organ came in and hit the first six of the match off Matt Parkinson in the 22nd over but he tried to repeat the feat two balls later and was caught on the boundary by Marcus O’Riordan.
Gubbins then fell to an ugly swipe off Stobo that was caught by Joey Evison and Eddie Jack was bowled by Gilchrist for 14, before the innings came to a premature end when Gilchrist ran out Abbott.
The chase got off to a rocky start when O’Riordan edged Abbott behind for nought and Joey Evison went for one to the same combination in Abbott’s next over.
Swanepoel was dropped by Albert on 27 when he miscued Jack but he’d added just three more to his score when he drove Abbott to Eckland to leave Kent on 42 for three.
Jack Leaning played on to Jack and was bowled for 14 and Kelly had Jaydn Denly caught behind for 19.
When Ekansh Singh drove Jack to Gubbins for six Kent were on 96 for six, but with the run rate seldom rising above three an over Finch was able to play it like an old-fashioned four day run chase. He hit his first boundary from the 60th ball he faced and put on the first 50 partnership of the entire match with Stobo to tilt the equation back in Kent’s favour.
Stobo smashed Gubbins for a six to take Kent to within three of victory but there was nearly late drama when Finch charged at Organ and Brown missed a simple chance for a stumping, allowing Finch pulled the next delivery for four to complete the win with 9.3 overs remaining.