Hampshire v Kent

KENT all-rounder Ryan McLaren was the hero of the hour as Spitfires took a last ball wicket to tie their opening Twenty20 Cup qualifier against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl on Friday night.

In an edge-of-the seat thriller played out in front of almost 9.000, it was new boy Morne Morkel who was entrusted to bowl the final over of the game with Hampshire needing 10 to win.

Hampshire's victory equation boiled down to a single from the last ball, but Greg Lamb, in attempting to cut over third man, picked out Ryan McLaren allowing Kent to travel home with a point from their first ever tie in this, the fifth season of Twenty20 cricket.

It was debutant Morkel who got the visitors off to a decent start to their stint in the field with a wicket in his second over as the Hawks set about chasing Kent's 20-over total of 153 for six.

With attacking fields to bowl at from the off, the tall 22-year-old South African, who only landed in the UK on Wednesday morning, bowled with good speed and extracted excessive bounce from the Pavilion End.

It was Morkel's steep bounce that accounted for Michael Lumb (10) to a regulation catch by Martin van Jaarsveld at second slip, before two wickets in an over from Simon Cook put the visitors in command.

Cook's first ball snared former Kent man Michael Carberry to another van Jaarsveld catch, this time low down at second slip, then three balls later Aussie right-hander Adam Voges (2) went leg before as he played outside the line of an in-ducker.

Come the end of the sixth over and Kent's fielding restrictions, Hampshire were 20 for three and already way behind the asking rate.

Sean Ervine and Chris Benham recovered the situation with some sensible batting and a stand of 35 that ended with a horrible swish across the line from Ervine that allowed Cook to uproot his middle stump.

Hawks required 91 from the last 60 balls and Dimitri Mascarenhas and Chris Benham moved them ahead of the rate with some great attacking shots.

The 34th over of the night heralded the first and only over of spin from either side, but James Tredwell leaked 15 runs, including three fours, to cut the asking rate to 52 runs required from the last 36 balls.

Mascarenhas finally perished for 31 from 20 balls, slogging to long on he was superbly caught on the run by Tredwell to give Ryan McLaren a deserved wicket to end a stand of 53 in seven overs.

In the next over top-scorer Benham (43) played across a Yasir Arafat off-cutter that pegged back his off stump and at 111 for six Kent scented victory once more.

With 36 needed off the last three overs, Key re-introduced Morkel, but his inexperience allowed veteran Nic Pothas to hit two fours. Morkel should have got his man from the last ball of the over, but McLaren downed a tough, low chance running in from third man as Pothas sliced an attempted heave over cover.

The drop almost cost Kent the game as Pothas who, in reaching 23 not out, chipped and clipped away to tie the scores from the penultimate ball.

On strike to the last ball, Lamb attempted to clip a short one over the slips but this time McLaren sprinted in and took a stunning low catch to leave the game in a thrilling stalemate.

In a quirky move earlier in the night, Kent, in this shortest form of the game, did away with their hit and miss batting list that failed them in the Friends Provident Trophy campaign and reverted to their four-day order.

Having won the toss, they elected to bat first on what they suspected to be a sporting pitch and they were proved right.

Joe Denly cracked the first two balls of the match from James Bruce for four, but when the bowlers did find a good length the ball seamed about extravagantly.

Having scored 18 from 12 balls for his part in an opening stand of 26 with skipper Key, Denly played slightly across a slower ball from James Bruce to chip a catch to mid-on.

Van Jaarsveld (1) miscued in working to leg to pick out Carberry running in from deep mid-wicket for a fine, low catch then Matthew Walker (5) in aiming a straight, lofted blow against Mascarenhas, allowed the bottom hand to take over and dragged the ball to mid-on.

Without scoring Darren Stevens aimed to drive on the up against Mascarenhas only to be caught at point off a thick outside edge to make it 63 for four just after the half-way point.

Geraint Jones cracked three fours in his brief innings of 12, but it served to up the impetus just as the Kent innings threatened to stagnate.

Jones was unfortunate to slap a full toss to mid-off to give Mascarenhas excellent figures of three for 17 on the day he was called up for the England ODI side, but Key and McLaren ensured the tempo remained high for the rest of the 20-over allowance.

Key sailed to his second Twenty20 half-century with five fours as he and McLaren added 33 in no time, but with his score on 59 Key holed out to long-on.

McLaren shouldered the responsibility superbly thereafter, taking 15 and 17 off successive Sean Ervine overs then, he hammered 18 off Chris Tremlett's last over of the innings including the only six.

McLaren finished with an unbeaten 46 from 19 balls with eight fours and six, giving him an incredible strike rate of 242 per 100 balls.

It all ensured Spitfires recovered from a mid-innings sticky patch to post a competitive total that tested Hampshire's all the way.

Scores Kent 153 for six; Hampshire 153 for seven.