Matt Walker hailed Kent’s hammering of the reigning champions of the Royal London One-Day Cup as one of the best he’s ever seen.

The Spitfires beat Nottinghamshire by nine-wickets at Trent Bridge on Thursday to secure their place in the semi-final of the competition.

Head coach Walker said: “It was outstanding. It’s hard to put into words really other than to throw a load of superlatives at that.

“It was a total destruction of the champs, which makes me feel extremely proud. Anyone who witnessed it who was in a Kent shirt should feel very proud and privileged to have watched that.

“You expect to come here and face a steep challenge against an extremely good side but I think we put in a total performance.

“What we are starting to see if a real belief in this team that we can come to these places and not fear the big boys. It was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen.”

A career best of 4-57 from Harry Podmore and a tight opening spell from Matt Henry saw Notts struggle to 25-4 from the first 10 overs.

Some late scoring saw the hosts reach 255-8 but a third century in four matches for Heino Kuhn made light work of the target.

Walker said: “How we started was magnificent. Harry coming into the team for his second game shows where we are at. It’s one of the most positive things that you can bring people in who you can trust and will do a good job for us.

“He bowled beautifully and those wickets early on were key. Those guys set it up beautifully and what followed was really decent. They got a bit of momentum towards the end but the hard work had been done early on.”

Joe Denly also came in and made a quick 52 from 28 balls to seal the victory. He has now scored 480 runs at an average of 96 during the 50-over competition.

Walker added: “He’s been playing very well for a few years now.

“He’s a very fine player and has shown this now for a while and has shown it across all formats.

“He’s playing magnificently well and it’s lovely when you see a young player, having played with him, that has grown up and has a great perspective on things.”