Kent Spitfires missed the chance to all-but secure a place in the T20 Blast knockout stages, losing their final group home game to Sussex Sharks at Canterbury on Friday night.

The hosts couldn’t chase down 129 for a Duckworth-Lewis win inside 10 overs amid a rain-affected match, as they were beaten by 11 runs, after a brilliant Ravi Bopara century had seen the visitors total 228 from their 20-over allocation.

A seventh straight Blast victory in front of a sold-out ground would have seen Spitfires within sight of the knockout stages although, with basement boys Middlesex beating Essex Eagles, Kent only need to beat Somerset this Sunday at Taunton to book their spot in the Quarter-Finals still.

Bowler Matt Quinn reflected: “I think ‘chaotic’ is probably the best word to describe it.

“We were bowling in the rain for pretty much the whole 20 overs – the ball was like a bar of soap! You try and bowl your variations and you can’t really bowl them so, as I said, it was a bit of a chaotic game.

“But we’d won six games in a row, we’ve had a lull here, but we know we’re playing knockout cricket now.

“If we can take it back to 2021 [their T20 Blast triumph] – or even what we did last year [when they won the Royal London One-Day Cup] – we’re confident that we can do that again.”

Spitfires skipper Sam Billings won the toss and elected to bowl first, with white-ball specialist Alex Blake back in the team alongside Quinn in place of Australian Wes Agar and Joe Denly, who had knocks.

The hosts opened with Jack Leaning’s spin (1-25). Amid a mixed start, he was sent for the first boundary off the second ball by Harrison Ward - only for the opener to, somehow, be bowled by a drag-down three balls later for five.

Recalled Quinn (2-43) was brought into the attack from the third over after veteran Michael Hogan’s first spell (1-40) and Quinn swiftly got Oli Carter, who chipped to mid-on, for three.

Sharks skipper Bopara instantly looked in the mood, though. The 38-year-old creamed his first ball through the covers for four and delivered the opening maximum of the innings over the legside boundary, backed up by another four in the same over. That was merely a taste of what was to come.

Leaning returned, only to be sent for 18 in the fourth over, which finished with opener Tom Clark’s first six. Another sublime crack through the offside by Bopara then saw Sussex move to the 50-run mark.

Clark and Bopara appeared in great touch. Another expensive Kent over, from Hogan, ended with a maximum for the former and helped the away team be 73-2 after the powerplay.

The duo’s 71-run partnership was ended when Clark was run-out for 47 after a throw to Billings from South African all-rounder George Linde, Clark having been sent back off all-rounder Joey Evison (0-38) by Bopara.

The momentum remained firmly with the visitors in front of the capacity 6,500-strong crowd as Pakistan’s Shadab Khan launched Linde (2-49) for successive sixes.

But when he went for it for a third time, he picked out Jordan Cox on the boundary to leave them 108-4 at the halfway stage. That moved to 128-4 from 12 overs, Bopara and wicketkeeper Michael Burgess manoeuvring the ball around the field well.

Consecutive boundaries - the second a clever dink over short third man - from Bopara saw him move to his 50 in 28 balls in the 13th over.

The rain threatened to halt play on several occasions – and finally did! It had initially stopped by the eventful end of the 14th over, however. Burgess switch-hit left-arm spinner Linde for six but was caught behind off the next delivery for 15.

That didn’t seem to faze Bopara, who whacked Grant Stewart (0-30) for 19 in the 15th over.

The former England international’s experience and class was really coming to the fore as he closed in on three figures thanks to three more boundaries off Evison, one coming after a sloppy misfield, and even Fynn Hudson-Prentice got in on the action.

Everything off a Sussex bat was now finding the gap, Hogan being sent for another 10 in the 17th over to move Sharks over the 200-run mark.

A two through the offside off Hogan by Bopara brought up his well-deserved second T20 ton from 48 balls, which included 18 fours and a six.

He had a new batting partner for the final over, though, as Hudson-Prentice was given out lbw off Hogan for an 11-ball 16 to leave them 220-6.

Bopara finally went for an excellent 108, picking out Blake at long-off off Quinn’s bowling with four balls left.

On Bopara’s knock, Quinn, 30, said: “He played really well.

“He played really smartly. Obviously, there’s a small side out there, which I think, as bowlers, we maybe got a bit too overwhelmed with – and hung it a bit wide.

“But he played really well and showed how good a batsman he is.”

Neither Nathan McAndrew nor Ari Karvelas found the ropes from there to leave Sussex making 228-7 and the hosts with a record run-chase on their hands.

Their openers Tawanda Muyeye and Daniel Bell-Drummond - both fresh from County Championship centuries in their big away win over Northamptonshire earlier this week - had plenty of work to do under the lights.

But Muyeye was bowled from the first ball of the second over for one, chopping on off South African Karvelas (1-22).

Blake was brought in at three and got just enough on a legside-chip to find the boundary before he did so again through the offside the next ball.

Bell-Drummond found the ropes for the first time in his knock off Brad Currie (0-10) with Spitfires 21-1 after three overs, albeit the 29-year-old did require treatment after pulling up when scampering a quick two at the end of the over.

As the rain returned, left-armer Tymal Mills (0-27) came into the attack but was sent for a four, and then a huge legside maximum by Blake, as the umpires called the players off with the score at 31-1.

Play resumed just after 9.30pm with the revised target 129 off 10 overs and, as Bell-Drummond returned alongside 34-year-old Blake, the former was joined by runner Muyeye to add yet more drama to proceedings.

Mills’ first over ended with Blake hitting two successive streaky fours to give the home fans hope.

Bell-Drummond had tried to carry on but eventually opted to retire hurt on 13 towards the end of the fifth over, bowled by spinner Shadab (0-27).

That brought Billings to the crease - and he was dropped off his first delivery at long-off to leave Kent 51-1 at the halfway stage.

Blake had been left with little choice except to keep going at it, although he could only smash McAndrew (1-27) high into the sky for a catch which was taken by Burgess, as he departed for a 13-ball 30.

Billings clearly wanted another left-hander, Linde, to join him. The 31-year-old added an entertaining 13, which included a four and a maximum, before he was run-out in a mix-up with Burgess throwing to McAndrew.

Cox came in and nailed a legside six while consecutive wides by Shadab, followed by another Cox boundary, meant Spitfires needed 46 off the last three overs.

Heading into the final 12 balls, a big legside six from Cox off McAndrew left Kent with another 32 runs required for victory.

Cox clubbed a boundary at the start of Mills’ second over but, after taking a single, he left his skipper stranded when he tried to run through for a quick bye from a delivery which had gone through to wicketkeeper Burgess.

But two priceless dot balls for Mills off Leaning left Cox needing some 26 runs off the last over.

Margate-born Cox gave it a go at the death off Karvelas - sending one ball over the ropes for six - but Kent ended 12 runs short of their target. Cox was unbeaten on 37 off 16 balls, Leaning 0 not out.

Dutch seamer Fred Klaassen had remained sidelined for the hosts after he failed a fitness test.

Revealing when he found out he’d be playing, Quinn said: “Not that long before the kick-off.

“Obviously, it’s a bit tough for us at the moment, with the schedule that we’ve had. A few boys are a bit sore.

“I probably found out at 5pm today that I was playing.”