Winter recruit Azhar Mahmood starred with bat and ball on his Twenty20 Cup debut for Kent, but was quick to praise his new team-mates after Spitfires' six-wicket win over Sussex at St Lawrence.

The former Pakistan and Surrey all-rounder took 1-12 in his three, accurate overs of medium-pace seam bowling and then came in to bat just when it appeared Kent's reply was running out of steam to power an unbeaten 19 from 10 balls to help open the 2008 win account for the reigning champions.

After collecting his man-of-the-match award Mahmood said: "We have a nice bunch of guys here, but also good match-winners in 'Kempie' and Robert Key as well as the other younger guys, we are doing well (in one-day cricket) this season.

"Joe Denly is one of the best youngsters in England right now from my point of view, he's a wonderful player to watch and my friend Yasir (Arafat) is bowling really well in one-day competitions too.

"I don't know why he wasn't man-of-the-match for his 4-17, because I think he deserved it more than me!"

Mahmood added: "I think this Kent side is one of the best in this competition. From one to 10 in the batting order everyone is capable of a 100 strike rate and there is lots of enthusiasm for the game."

Kent are next in action on Friday when they travel to the Brit Oval to take on Surrey Browncaps.