Fabian Cowdrey’s maiden half-century for Kent was not enough to gain a third successive Friends Life t20 win, as Surrey triumphed by five wickets at the Oval on Friday.

Instead, former Kent all-rounder Azhar Mahmood showed his class with a 31-ball 47 not out to guide his team home when they appeared to be heading to defeat.

With James Tredwell ruled out through injury, Geraint Jones captained the side and decided to bat first.

Daniel Bell-Drummond went for just two but Cowdrey and Sam Billings put on 61 in 7.4 overs. Billings departed for 28 and Cowdrey made exactly 50, taking 46 balls, before he was dismissed with Kent 87-3 in the 14th over.

The late fireworks never really arrived as Darren Stevens struggled to get much of the strike. Alex Blake took 11 balls for his seven and Ben Harmison made 19 not out from 15 balls. Stevens, who was in the middle for 10 overs, faced only 19 balls and made 29 not out as Kent reached 139-4 in their 20 overs.

It did not look anywhere near enough as Surrey raced to 47-0 in five overs. But Stevens took the wickets of Steven Davies and Vikram Solanki in the space of three balls, Cowdrey’s spin accounted for Kevin O’Brien and Adam Riley removed Jason Roy (30) and Gary Wilson for a duck.

It meant Surrey had collapsed to 61-5, losing five wickets for 14 runs in four overs.

Zafar Ansari and Mahmood joined forced to drag Surrey back into the contest. Ansari took 36 balls to make 30 not out while Mahmood smashed three sixes and three fours in his 47 not out, which saw Surrey take 17 off the penultimate over bowled by Matt Coles and ease home with five balls to spare.