Kent Spitfires v Hampshire: Cowdrey spin and unbeaten DBD 80 seals 5-wicket win

Thursday 30th July 2015

Men’s First Team

Daniel Bell-Drummond carried his bat with an unbeaten 80 not out to help Kent Spitfires secure a five-wicket win in the Royal London One-Day Cup match against Hampshire at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence.

The opener, who turns 22 next week, put on 131 for the first wicket with partner Joe Denly (78 off 79 balls) after Fabian Cowdrey took 3-32 as the hosts restricted Hampshire to 233.

Cameos from Darren Stevens and Alex Blake (34 not out off 24 balls) sealed the first win in the 50-over competition which started last weekend.

Earlier, more than 2,500 supporters saw former Kent opener Michael Carberry blasted Hants to 75-0 in the 10-over powerplay before tight Kent bowling restricted the scoring and stifled the middle order.

Evergreen all-rounder Stevens got the breakthrough by removing Carberry and later dismissed Vince as Hampshire reached 111-3 off 18 overs.

Two calamitous run-outs and economical spin from Cowdrey and James Tredwell turned the screw as Kent took 8-80 in 21 overs.

Cowdrey’s career-best return earned him the Fitzgerald Jewellers Man of the Match prize before death bowler Mitch Claydon mopped up the tail to finish with 2-28 from 6.5 overs.

Sam Northeast, Kent’s winning skipper, said: “I thought they would get 300-plus when ‘Carbs’ got them off to a flyer, but we did really well to claw it back thereafter.
“Michael showed his England class out there and sometimes, on a pitch like that, he’s almost unstoppable, but Darren Stevens got him with a slower ball and it proved a massive wicket for us.”
“If we can get the first powerplay right, do things better up top than we did today, then we can be a proper side in this format. The guys did so well to drag us back into things.
“The run chase went fairly smoothly thanks to Danny, who again showed how his one-day game is maturing when opening up alongside an experienced campaigner like Joe. Those two laid the foundations and made life pretty comfortable for the rest of us.”

Scorecard

Next up in the Royal London One-Day Cup is a trip to Radlett to face Middlesex tomorrow before the visit of Sussex Sharks on Sunday (10.30am start) at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence.

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