The calls for Darren Stevens to be offered yet another new Kent contract got even louder after he guided The Spitfires to the Royal London One-Day Cup final on Tuesday.

The 46-year-old is due to leave Kent at the end of this season but he's certainly going out with a bang after his brilliant 84 not out from just 65 balls saw his team to an unlikely victory against one-day specialists Hampshire.

Kent, who lost to Hampshire in the 2018 final at Lord's, will now face Lancashire at Trent Bridge in the final on September 17.

Stevens' heroics completed an amazing chase for Kent, who were without Alex Blake after he injured his hand while taking a catch in Hampshire's innings. At 20-2 and then 65-3, Kent staged a recovery courtesy of Ollie Robinson - another player who looks set to depart at the end of the season - and Harry Finch.

But when both went in the space of two overs, Kent were 181-5. Cometh the hour, cometh the man.

Openers Joey Evison and Ben Compton were dismissed inside the first six overs of the reply, both edging to Scott Currie at second slip.

At the other end, Robinson was playing with a sublime touch, with all 12 of his fours coming on the offside to go with a beautifully flicked six.

Joe Denly (21) put on 48 with Robinson before edging behind before Finch arrived to substantially chip away at their task. A quick outfield paired with well-placed shots made scoring seem easy, with the duo’s 100-run stand coming in 101 balls.

But the momentum swung back towards Hampshire as Robinson spooned to mid-wicket for 95 and Finch chopped on for 52.

Stevens, who made 41 off 24 in the quarter-final at his former club Leicestershire, came to Kent's rescue. He bossed a 60-run stand with Grant Stewart (14), and when he had gone, dominated a 45-run partnership with Harry Podmore (10).

Power was the name of his game, whether it was down the ground or through point, every ball had the kitchen sink thrown at it. His 50 came at a run-a-ball, before an extraordinary slapped four over extra cover, off a no-ball bouncer, and a checked straight six combo silenced the Ageas Bowl.

He even had time to hug umpire David Millns after smashing back at him.

Kent needed 72 from the final 10 overs, which Stevens expertly knocked off to win with an over to spare.

Kent coach Simon Cook said: "Darren Stevens was the difference between us and Hampshire, that's the easiest answer. It was an extraordinary innings from him.

"You can't buy experience. It is understanding the game and the match situation. They came out with a plan against him - going short to take out his bigger shots - but he worked out a way of getting through it.

"I don't think I have seen many better one-day innings from him. He writes his own scripts and he continues to write his own scripts. He's got two 40s and an 80, we just don't know what he'll do in the final...it could be anything!

"It is above my pay grade [his contract situation].

"We were quite unhappy with 310, I think we gave them 20 runs in the field and we didn't maintain our lengths on a tricky pitch. To chase down 310 in that manner on a tricky pitch is outstanding."

Earlier, Nick Gubbins and Ben Brown had set the platform with 106 for the first wicket - Hampshire's highest opening stand of the tournament - with Gubbins clipping the second ball of the innings off his hip to the boundary to set the tone after they had been put in.

He was dropped on 33 at first slip but moved past 50 for the third time in the competition in 54 balls. The impressive start was halted by a classic bang-bang from Hamid Qadri.

Brown was adjudged to have been caught at short fine leg and from the next delivery Hampshire’s leading run scorer Tom Prest - who had scored a brilliant ton when the teams met in the group stages at Beckenham - edged behind for a golden duck.

Another pair of wickets - Aneurin Donald lbw for 54 while attempting a one-handed reverse sweep and Fletcha Middleton tamely caught at cover - dragged the Spitfires back into things. However, Toby Albert and Felix Organ thrashed 88 runs in 57 balls - headlined by three sixes from the latter.

It was a brutal period of play which teed up 92 runs to come in the final 10 overs to take Hampshire to 310-9. Denly, Qadri and Nathan Gilchrist picked up two wickets apiece.