Kent reach One-Day Cup semi-final after tense win over Gloucestershire
Sam Billings’ thrilling 61 off 36 balls inspired Kent to victory against Gloucestershire by 24 runs under the Canterbury floodlights in the Royal London One-Day Cup quarter-final.
Sam Northeast, with 78, and Fabian Cowdrey, with 51, batted well but it was Billings who provided crucial acceleration in Kent’s eventual 242 all out from 48.3 overs.
In reply, several Gloucestershire batsmen got starts: Chris Dent hit 40 from 37 balls and Gareth Roderick scored 43 but Kent captain Rob Key maintained control in the field by rotating his bowlers.
Ben Harmison bowled brilliantly to claim 3 for 40 with Adam Riley, Darren Stevens and David Griffiths striking at important times to keep Gloucestershire pegged back.
Will Gidman and Benny Howell put on 53 for the seventh wicket to recover from 125 for six but Griffiths’ perfect 85mph yorker in the 39th over to bowl Gidman for 39 in the penultimate over of the batting powerplay.
Fabian Cowdrey took 2 for 28 with his left-arm spinners as Gloucestershire struggled to 218 all out from 47.3 overs.
Jack Taylor did offer defiant blows for six and four off Riley, but on 16 he nicked an expansive drive at Harmison to Billings behind the stumps.
Benny Howells’ brisk 33 ended when he was bowled by Mitch Claydon before last man David Payne was skittled by Griffiths to the delight of a good crowd at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence Ground.
Billings struck three sixes and seven fours to dominate a match-turning stand of 82 in eight overs with Northeast, whose 123-ball innings, with six fours, anchored Kent’s innings.
Launched in promising style by Dent and Will Tavare, who added 46 for the first wicket with some superb strokes, Gloucestershire’s chase lost its way once Harmison removed Tavare with his second ball in the ninth over.
Tavare, nephew of former Kent player Chris, tried to loft Harmison’s medium pace over mid-on but mistimed the shot to give Riley an easy catch.
Even at 74-1, though, Gloucestershire looked well-positioned – only for Cowdrey to strike with his fourth ball, a flighted left-arm spinner which hit Dent on the boot as, on 40, he shaped to whip it away through mid-wicket.
When Ian Cockbain played on to Stevens for 3 in the 18th over, and Hamish Marshall was caught and bowled by Riley in the next over, chipping a return catch off a leading edge, Gloucestershire were suddenly 87 for four.
And the collapse became 101 for five when Cowdrey, recalled for a second over, had Alex Gidman caught by Stevens at short mid-wicket for 4 as he tried to slug away to leg a shortish ball.
Kent lost Key and Harmison to successive balls in Payne’s third over with the new ball.
Captain Key fell for 2, edging a paddle-pull to the keeper and Harmison, pushing forward to his first ball, was leg-before.
Cowdrey provided the initial impetus in a third wicket stand of 106 with Northeast that gave Kent a platform for the acceleration.
His 51 from 68 balls, with five fours, ended with a leading edge to short extra cover off Will Gidman in the 29th over, and Stevens holed out to long on for 12 in the 35th over after Kent opted to take their batting powerplay at 127 for three from 32 overs.
Billings, however, took two fours from the last two balls of the powerplay’s last two balls, bowled by Payne, and this was the start of a magnificent display of clean hitting by the Kent wicketkeeper-batsman, who took his run tally in this year’s Royal London Cup competition to 418 from just six innings, at an average of 104.5.
Two sixes were taken off Dent’s left-arm spin in the 41st over and another six, plus a reverse sweep for four, came from off spinner Taylor as he sped to a 29-ball fifty.
Kent’s lower order, though, fell away alarmingly after Northeast was bowled swinging at Craig Miles at 215, in the 43rd over, and Billings followed two overs later when he was lbw to the same bowler as he walked across his stumps in an effort to hit a full delivery away to leg.
Alex Blake and Adam Ball, left with the task of guiding their team through the closing overs, both gifted their wickets with ill-judged swings across the line – Howell winning a leg-before shout to get rid of Blake for 4 and Ball falling lbw to Payne on 6.
Claydon did manage one boundary before he was bowled by Miles, again swinging across the line, and Griffiths was left 2 not out when Riley tamely chipped the first ball he faced, from Payne, to short extra cover.
Nine balls remained unbowled and Kent, after Billings’ onslaught, should have gone well past 250 – not that it mattered in the final analysis.
Billings said: “It’s nice to contribute and for us to get over the line. Gloucestershire hung in there, and fair play to them for that. It got a bit twitchy towards the end.
“The new regulations, with one less fielder outside the ring, does give you more options as a batsman, and it’s just about backing yourself to take those options.”
Kent captain Rob Key said: “Away to Warwickshire is a chance to play at one of the great grounds in England, and at this stage of the competition they are all good sides.
“It will be an excellent opportunity for all our young players. We held our nerve well today, but it was a fairly stodgy pitch that was not easy to bat on.”
Gloucestershire captain Alex Gidman said: “We thought we had a good chance of chasing down that total, but Billings played a fine knock for them and we didn’t have anyone who could match the two innings that he and Sam Northeast played.”
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