Kent narrowly missed out on a place at NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day as they suffered an agonising quarter-final exit after a tie against Lancashire at Canterbury on Saturday.

The game had looked over as a contest long before mid-way as the Spitfires capitulated with the bat after losing the toss, falling to 86-7 before a late burst from James Tredwell (31 not out) steered them to a total of 142.

The class of Ashwell Prince (62) and Ashes hero Joss Buttler (53 from 37 balls) looked to have been the difference in reply, despite some stifling bowling and solid work in the field which kept Kent in the hunt throughout and took the match to the final over with the visitors needing six to win.

However Matt Coles claimed two wickets in as many balls and the visitors were left needing five to win off the final two balls and then three to win off the final delivery.

However James Faulkner clipped the final ball away and beat the throw to complete two runs with Arron Lilley and secure a tie, with the visitors progressing to the semi-finals by virtue of losing fewer wickets.

The hosts made a solid start with Joe Denly and Bell-Drummond cruising to 25-0 from 26 balls but Bell-Drummond (8) skied one off Kyle Jarvis, with Karl Brown taking a running catch over his shoulder, and Denly (15) followed him back to the pavilion after the very next ball, a nick to England keeper Jos Buttler, diving away to his right.

The hat-trick ball did drift down leg-side but Kent's early optimism dissipated and the lively crowd were quietened.

Sam Northeast and Sam Billings looked to be warming-up nicely when Northeast was trapped LBW off the first ball from spinner Arron Lilley for 14 from 12 balls to leave Kent in trouble at 53-3 at the start of the ninth over.

Darren Stevens (2) fell victim to some incredible fielding as his sure-fire six off Stephen Parry was parried into the air, above the boundary by Lilley for Brown to clutch running-in.

Kent were 58-4 at that point but couldn't stop the flow as Blake (2) missed one from Lilley to give the spinner another LBW decision and make it 62-5 in the 11th over.

Fabian Cowdrey joined Billings in the middle and provide support to the wicket-keeper as he began to loosen the shackles, lashing Lilley for six over cow corner and breezing to 27 not out, only to top-edge one off Parry (3-31) for his England rival Buttler to claim on the run.

84-6 became 86-7 as Matt Coles slammed one down the throat of Alex Davies well-inside the long on boundary for just one, with more than six overs still to come.

It was 99-7 with five overs remaining but Tredwell and Cowdrey showed their teammates how to do it, sharing 52 from 5.4 overs with Tredwell in particular catching the eye.

The veteran spinner smashed four fours and six in an 18-ball stay which yielded a team-high 31 runs and gave the scoreline a semblance of respectability.

Cowdrey was eventually run-out for 27 from 23 balls in the final over thanks to good work from James Faulkner and then Mitch Claydon was bowled by Faulkner from the penultimate ball after one lusty four.

Ivan Thomas was then bowled off the final delivery to leave Faulkner on a hat-trick and Kent 142 all-out.

Coles gave Kent an early breakthrough in the reply as he trapped the wrong-footed Davies (2) to leave the Lightning 12-1 in the third over and Kent were briefly on-top.

However Ashwell Prince played himself in and although Stevens (1-20) rearranged Brown's stumps for one to make it 35-2, the next breakthrough did not come until Tredwell trapped Liam Livingstone (12) to start the 10th over.

57-3 quickly became 64-3 at the midway point after the introduction of Buttler, who was fortunate to survive an LBW appeal before sending Tredwell (1-28) back over his own head two balls later.

Prince remained the coolest man in CT1 and passed 50 with his fifth four to add to a sole six and the asking rate came down to 58 from the final seven overs.

Buttler found his groove and began to clear the ropes as the asking rate came down to 33 from the final four overs and 26 from three.

Prince had cruised to 62 from 50 balls when he holed-out to Denly off Claydon (1-28) with his side needing just 13 from the final 12 balls.

Buttler blazed to 53 but with his side needing five from the final five balls he skied Coles to Blake to spark wild scenes and send Faulkner to the middle.

Steven Croft (4) then tried to win it in one but only skewed one to Cowdrey as the Spitfire Ground threatened to explode.

However Faulkner helped himself to two off the penultimate ball and then hit a straight one back from the final delivery, cannoning off the stumps and away, giving him enough time to complete the two and earn his side a trip to Birmingham on August 29.