Spitfires Knocked Out of Friends Life t20

Leicestershire Foxes brought Kent Spitfires hopes of t20 success to an end in front of a big crowd at Grace Road. The Foxes won by 4 wickets in the final over.

Kent posted an imposing 203 for 3. The innings was anchored by Azhar Mahmood who scored 91 off 52 balls before being dismissed in the final over. It was a classy Azhar effort – flowing shots through extra cover, huge straight drives and wristy strokes through the leg side.

Kent had made a steady start before Joe Denly was caught at slip by MacDonald off Abdul Razzaq in the third over. This brought Mahmood in. He and Rob Key then added 50 for the second wicket, before the captain was run out backing up at the non-strikers end in the 9th over with the score on 66.

Martin van Jaarsveld was the next man in and the innings really started to motor. He was not out at the end, scoring 63 off 32 balls. His partnership with Mahmood had set up a big score and the Spitfires would have had high hopes of another t20 Finals Day at the half way stage.

It was not to be though as the Foxes set about their task in style, eventually overhauling the Kent score off the second ball of the final over. They got off to a flyer scoring 79 off their first 6 overs, although 3 wickets had fallen by this stage. The momentum was maintained by Andrew Macdonald who eventually fell for 53 to Darren Stevens. Stevens bowled well in tandem with James Tredwell during the middle overs, and it looked like the game was swinging back Kent's way.

But it was Kent old boy Paul NIxon, in his final home game at Grace Road, who finally took the game home for the Foxes with a swashbuckling 31 off 27 balls. He fell in the 19th over, but the Finals Day place was already in the grasp of Leicestershire and Matt Boyce hit the winning runs in the next over. The celebrations started for the home side and went long in to the night.

Click here for ECB scorecard