Sam Northeast: Our character shone through

Kent captain Sam Northeast praised the resurgence of Kent Spitfires as they bounced back from defeat at Lord's to record an excellent 23-run win against old rivals Surrey at The County Ground, Beckenham on Friday evening.

The 25-year-old Ashford-born batsman said: "We had a long discussion after that Middlesex game and a lot of plans were drawn up for this match.

"The main thing is that we executed those plans, and the character of the team shone through.

“We are a young team and there’s a lot of talent in our dressing room and I am sure there is more to come from a lot of the other players.

"Twenty20 is a hard game and sometimes you can get games like at Lord’s where nothing goes right for you."

Kent returned to the top of the table and hope the Surrey win will inspire the Spitfires to pick up more points from two games in the next seven days.

Northeast said: “It’s great to get out third win from four games, but it is very early in the competition. As for my own form, I feel in good nick and hopefully I can keep that going.

"But Fabian Cowdrey also played a fine knock this evening, and he kept the momentum of our innings going brilliantly. Our death bowling has been good in all our games, so I was confident of defending our score when we got to the final overs.”

Kent Spitfires are next in action against Somerset at Taunton on Sunday before heading back at Beckenham next Friday (5 June) to face Gloucestershire (5.30pm start).

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