Kent Spitfires were beaten for the third straight T20 South group game, losing by seven wickets to Glamorgan in Cardiff on Friday night.

Setting the hosts a target of 190 for victory, Glamorgan stalwarts Colin Ingram and Chris Cooke shared a stand worth 109 to get them home with 18 balls to spare.

Kent’s innings had a strong start thanks to a career-best T20 score from Tawanda Muyeye and a powerful finish but a stutter in the middle overs proved costly in a high-scoring game.

Spitfires head coach Matt Walker said: “The first half was pretty good it seemed, we felt that was a pretty good score.

“We felt 189 was above par - on the numbers it was above par, 164 on average is a winning total here.

“We thought we were in a pretty good position but, to be honest, if we bowl like that, 189 is nowhere near enough.

“It was poor, there’s no beating around the bush. We can try and find the positives out of it, there weren’t really any with the ball. We just didn’t get it right.

“We made it very easy for them, we bowled too wide, we just weren’t really able to create any real pressure other than I suppose Michael Hogan, who I thought bowled well.

“But other than that, I don’t think they really broke sweat in that run chase.

“[It was] extremely disappointing, it just wasn’t good enough from a Kent team.”

The Spitfires were put into bat and it looked as if Glamorgan had made the wrong call as Daniel Bell-Drummond and Muyeye raced along initially.

Muyeye was the main aggressor as 63 runs were scored off the first six overs, with Jamie McIlroy and Zain-ul-Hassan struggling to keep the away openers under control.

It was the introduction of Australian leg-spinner Peter Hatzoglou which brought Glamorgan back into the game. He made the first breakthrough with his sixth ball of the game when he bowled Bell-Drummond for a 16-ball 19 when he attempted a slog sweep.

Joe Denly (10) tried to keep the momentum going as he smoked a massive six over the mid-wicket boundary to get himself off the mark. That attempt to inject some impetus didn’t last long, however, with Denly’s dismissal the first of three in quick succession as Hatzoglou and Prem Sisodiya did a good job of pinning down the Kent middle-order.

When Muyeye was dismissed for 63, his team were 103-4 after 11 overs with two new batsmen at the crease, having been 93-1.

Jordan Cox (35), George Linde (26) and Jack Leaning (21) did a fantastic job of covering up the cracks caused by that cluster of wickets as they all made contributions as Kent reached 189-6.

The Cox innings was the most eventful of the three, especially when the 22-year-old offered two catching chances to Kiran Carlson off two successive deliveries, neither of which were claimed by the Glamorgan captain.

The home team had a similarly quick start to their innings, Eddie Byrom scoring 43 out of a 51 opening stand with ex-Kent skipper Sam Northeast.

Byrom smashed 20 runs from Australian overseas bowler Wes Agar’s first over and, despite Agar hitting his helmet, he guided the ball immediately after the blow over third man for six.

Grant Stewart (2-51) was given similarly brutal treatment and had conceded 19 runs from his first five balls before he had Byrom caught by Cox at mid-on for a 19-ball 43.

The one Kent bowler who kept things under control early on was Michael Hogan (1-27) who was back in Cardiff for the first time since his departure from Glamorgan over the winter.

Welsh cricket supporters were given a reminder of what they lost when 42-year-old Hogan made the decision to finish his career at Kent when his two PowerPlay overs brought just seven runs and the wicket of Ashford-born Northeast.

A remarkable catch by 26-year-old Agar at fine leg ended Carlson’s innings but that brought together Cooke and Ingram who got themselves set before taking the game away from Kent in a stand which was professionally managed. Both batsmen were happy to take boundaries when they were offered and singles when the ball was not there to be hit.

It was a no-ball from Agar (0-41) that took Glamorgan to their target as the away side failed to find any answers to the Cooke and Ingram partnership, which saw the pair produce 15 boundaries and two maximums altogether. Ingram ended 63 not out off 32 balls while Cooke delivered an unbeaten 28-ball 46.

Kent return to action at Canterbury this Sunday against Surrey.