Essex Eagles won by 29 runs

KENT slid to their second Twenty20 Cup defeat in the space of three days after suffering a crushing 29-run defeat to Essex Eagles under lights at Chelmsford.

In a game reduced to 12 overs per side, Kent conceded 30 too many runs in the field and then made a complete mess of their response to the Eagles’ target of 132 for six.

Though Kent skipper David Fulton again elected to stand down in favour of Matt Walker, Spitfires did ring a few team and tactical changes, but none of them worked.

James Tredwell and Amjad Khan were both dropped and Matt Dennington and Michael Carberry recalled.

Added to which, Martin van Jaarsveld and Walker opened the innings rather than Darren Stevens and Rob Key, who were entrusted with the role in Wednesday’s defeat to Surrey.

Van Jaarsveld fell without scoring by playing across a good length ball in Toni Palladino’s first over then, to the next ball, Stevens was adjudged caught behind driving when he appeared to drive over a full delivery.

Walker and Justin Kemp then added 62 in seven overs, before both were stumped by James Foster in the space of four balls.

Walker (36) yorked himself charging down the track, then Kemp (31) missed an ugly leg-side heave to gift Foster another dismissal.

That left Kent with 56 to win from the last two overs, a task well beyond Test pairing Key and Andrew Hall.

The Eagles’ innings, having been delayed just over an hour late due to thunderstorms, started in disarray when Hall had a hand in two second-over dismissals.

Home skipper Ronnie Irani, who slaughtered Kent’s attack in this competition at The Mote last year, survived just one ball when he miscued high to Dennington at mid-on.

Then James Middlebrook called for a chancy leg bye from the next delivery only to be run out as Hall followed through to hit the striker’s end with an under-arm shy.

The hosts re-grouped through Ravinder Bopara and Andy Flower with a steady stand of 48, to which Bopara contributed 30 from 18 balls, including the first six of the night.

Having only scored 29 from their first five overs, the impetus of the Essex innings changed with the introduction of Kemp from the River End for the sixth over.

Kemp, favoured ahead of Martin Saggers and Khan, conceded 24 runs from his first five balls but at least had Bopara caught on the ropes with his final delivery of the night to finish with one for 24 from his sole over.

Essex went on to add 80 from their next five overs with Flower top-scoring with an unbeaten 47 from 29 balls and with eight fours and a six.

Simon Cook and Hall were the pick of the Kent attack but, after four-weeks out of the first team, Dennington faced a hiding to nothing and his two overs went for 28.

With brisk double-figure contributions from Mark Pettini (18) and James Foster (10) Essex took their rate up to 11 an over, which proved too stiff a task for a Kent side uncertain of their one-day credentials.

With two defeats from as many Southern Group qualifiers, Kent will now need to reverse their fortunes tomorrow (Saturday) when they take on Middlesex at Beckenham.