SPITFIRES skipper Rob Key saw his one-day game plan torn to shreds on Monday night when Leicestershire Foxes taught him a lesson in how Twenty20 cricket should be played.

The East Midlands’ side played with more energy and imagination and, sadly to say, greater skill and enthusiasm to fully deserve their nine-wicket win over lethargic Kent.

Struggling to put his finger on why it all went so badly wrong, Key elected instead to praise Leicestershire’s young England bowler Stuart Broad who bagged three for 13 after Spitfires had elected to bat.

After notching a third ball duck to continue his own run of poor form, Key said: "Our plan was to go hard at them in the first six but that didn’t come off.

"Martin van Jaarsveld played a fantastic innings to get us up to that score and, having looked at the history here, we thought that 160 wasn’t a bad score because they had struggled to chase that down before.

"We feel we can burn a few at the top of the order because we have a long batting line up and though if one of that first six comes off you can really nail a game down. But it didn’t come off and that was down to Stuart Broad, who bowled fantastically well, plus their fielding was brilliant.

"We didn’t start particularly well but I think they’ve got a real find here in Broad. He’s probably the best young bowler I’ve ever seen in county cricket and I don’t think it will be too long before he’s playing Tests for England.

"He’s impressed me in the couple of A games I’ve played with him and he was fantastic here.

"If one of those skied chances had gone down it might have been a different story but fair play to Broad, I felt he was the difference with the ball between the two sides."

Van Jaarsveld’s innings of 75 from 46 balls coupled with a low key 39 from 47 balls by an off-colour Matthew Walker, Spitfires at least limped past 150 from their 20 overs, a score Key still felt was defendable on the big outfield of Grace Road.

He added: "I felt we had a half-decent score and, with Ackerman and Maddy up front, had we got one of those out early on we were in with a good shout.

"Even toward the end there I felt we had a slight chance, but after that over from James Tredwell we knew that was it. In the end we probably scored 10 or 15 runs too few.

"It wasn’t to be because Hylton Ackerman and Darren Maddy played really well and made it look easy in the end.

"They swept and reverse swept all the time, that shot has just come into the game and it's one of the hardest things to captain against. For the first time I felt I could have done with 12 fielders because if they play it well there’s not a lot you can do."

Despite the heavy defeat, Key looks set to name the same starting 11 for Wednesday night's second NatWest Pro40 League tie against Somerset under lights at Taunton.

Kent from: Dexter, Stevens, Key, Tredwell, van Jaarsveld, Walker, Bravo Henderson, O'Brien, Patel, Khan, Saggers, Denly.