Kent Spitfires got their NatWest T20 Blast campaign off to a winning start against Essex Eagles on Sunday.

More than 5,000 spectators watched the action at Beckenham as Spitfires eased to victory.

New Zealand duo JImmy Neesham and Adam Milne both impressed on their T20 bows for Kent while Daniel Bell-Drummond guided them home with 90 not out.

Essex opted to bat first, losing their first wicket in the fourth over when Milne bowled Tamim Iqbal for seven.

Spinner James Tredwell came on in the eighth over and saw his first ball hit for six by Tom Westley. The Kent spinner came back well, however, and finished with impressive figures of 1-18 in four overs.

Neesham bowled Westley with a yorker for 13 but Varun Chopra continued to shine, reaching 47 in 38 balls until Tredwell got his man caught by the safe hands of Joe Denly on the mid-wicket boundary.

Ravi Bopara and Ryan ten Doeschate started watchfully before cutting loose. They added 73 in 6.1 overs until the latter, having hit four boundaries in the first four balls of Matt Coles' over was caught in the deep by Denly for 38 in just 18 balls.

Bopara went next over for 45 and there was a final flourish in the last over as Spitfires took three wickets in three balls.

Neesham had James Foster caught on the cover boundary by Bell-Drummond, took a fine running catch off his own bowling to dismiss Ashar Zaidi and then ran out Paul Walter for a duck.

Milne finished with 2-24 and Neesham 3-37 as Essex Eagles closed on 166-8.

After a watchful start to their reply, Joe Denly let go in the third over, bowled by Mohammad Amir. He hit three sixes, two of them straight down the ground, as Kent scored 23 runs from the over.

Amir was replaced by Paul Walter, whose first two balls were sent to the boundary by Bell-Drummond as Kent's fifty came up in the fifth over.

South African Simon Harmer accounted for Denly, bowled for 32 from 16 balls, after coming on before the end of the powerplay.

Spitfires eased to 94-1 in 10 overs, captain Sam Northeast looking in fine touch alongside Bell-Drummond who hit Walter over mid-wicket for six to bring up the Kent hundred in the 11th over.

Bell-Drummond stroked Bopara through the covers for four and then produced a late cut to the boundary in the same over on his way to a 32-ball half-century.

Northeast went for 36, top-edging a reverse-sweep to give Porter a catch off Harmer's bowling to make it 122-2. Spitfires required 45 from 39 balls.

Bell-Drummond was not distracted, however, launching Porter for two big sixes in the 15th over.

Sam Billings was caught behind off Ashar Zaidi for just six, leaving Neesham to join Bell-Drummond.

It was fitting that the latter finished the job in the 19th over, hitting Amir for a giant six - the fourth in his 55-ball knock.