Kent Spitfires kept their Friends Life t20 qualification hopes alive with a 15-run victory over Surrey Lions at the Kia Oval on Thursday night.

They now have to win at Essex Eagles in front of a sell-out crowd on Friday night to book their place in the quarter-finals.

Kent who included skipper Rob Key in their side, despite fears he would miss the game through injury, won the toss and chose to bat.

They lost the wickets of Key, Joe Denly (22) and Martin van Jaarsveld inside the first 10 overs, before Azhar Mahmood and Darren Stevens came together.

The pair were in destructive mood as they put on an explosive 67-run fourth-wicket partnership that provided the backbone of the Kent innings.

Mahmood hit 60 off 47 balls including seven fours and a six, while Stevens punished the Surrey attack even more.

The all-rounder smashed a 19-ball knock of 43, in which most of the runs came from boundaries as he hit five sixes and two fours, to become the highest run scorer in English t20 cricket with 1,960.

A rapid 19 from Wahab Riaz further down the order enabled Kent to reach 181-9 from their 20 overs.

Surrey made solid start to their reply with Jason Roy (53) and Rory Hamilton-Brown (29) putting on 65 for the second wicket.

Tom Maynard added 36 but wickets fell at regular intervals as Charl Langeveldt weighed in with 3-37 and Stevens 2-20 from four overs each.

With two overs left, the game could have gone either way before Riaz swung it firmly in Kent’s favour.

After three disappointing overs, he responded by bowling Stuart Meeker and then Jade Dernbach at the expense of just one run.

Mahmood then conceded a four off the first ball of the final over before Zafar Ansari went for a world record sixth run out in a t20 match as Surrey were all out for 166.