Jordan Cox led Kent Spitfires to their fourth Vitality Blast win in a row as they beat Sussex Sharks by six wickets in Hove on Tuesday night.

Cox hit an unbeaten 82 off just 44 deliveries, with six fours and five sixes as the Spitfires successfully chased down the hosts’ total of 169-7 with eight balls to spare.

He was well supported at the end by Jack Leaning, who made an unbeaten 28 from 26 balls, as the duo added 77 in eight overs in an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership. Cox completed the win by hitting Ari Karvelas (2-36) to leg for successive sixes.

Kent’s chase had got off to a good start with 25 from the first two overs but then Karvelas came on to bowl the third, bowling Tawanda Muyeye with his first delivery and then having Joe Denly caught behind for a third-ball duck.

When Tymal Mills came on to bowl the fourth over, he had Spitfires captain Sam Billings caught behind for just two and suddenly Kent were on the back foot at 28-3.

But Cox put the Spitfires on top once more with a fourth-wicket stand of 70 in seven overs with Daniel Bell-Drummond (38). The pair looked in total control before, in the 11th over, Bell-Drummond attempted to work Ravi Bopara to fine leg and got a top edge. Cox, though, carried on, reaching his half-century from 31 balls with five fours and a six. He then celebrated the landmark by hoisting Brad Currie over square-leg for six, before reverse scooping George Garton over third man for another maximum before his final flurry of strokeplay against Karvelas.

Earlier, Sussex captain Bopara hit a typically fluent 53 from 39 deliveries, with four fours and two sixes. The Sharks must have hoped for more after reaching the end of the 15th with a score of 133-3 but they were frustrated by some fine death bowling from Michael Hogan (4-31) and Wes Agar (1-29), who had come into the side for Kane Richardson, who had a side strain.

Harrison Ward had got the Sharks off to a fine start, crashing 44 runs from the first five overs. But from the last ball of the fifth over, Ward was caught on the square-leg boundary off Hogan for a 21-ball 32.

Tom Clark again made a good start without progressing, and Ollie Carter looked in the mood after lifting Grant Stewart onto the pavilion roof for six. When he was out, well caught by Cox at extra cover, the best chance of a big total rested with the experienced pair of Bopara and Tom Alsop. They added 43 in four overs but then Alsop was caught at long-on by Bell-Drummond off Fred Klaassen (1-28) and even Bopara was unable to give the innings a gloss finish against some tight bowling and fielding from the Spitfires.

Kent are up to fifth in the table and Hogan said: “I think we’ve got some confidence now, going forward. We’ve put ourselves in the mix with this win tonight, and with a few results going our way as well.

”We have a quality seam attack which did well in the death overs tonight. The last five overs didn’t go for many when we looked like we might be chasing 180 plus.

“We do a lot of practice on our death work and our plans were pretty well spot on here, as was our execution.

“I enjoyed the Hogan fan club down here, among the Sussex fans. A few years ago I was fielding down there at third man and I dived and dropped a catch and they really gave it to me.

“We’ve had some banter in the past three or four years and they turn up in Hogan shirts now, so it’s nice to have a fan club at an away game.”