Men’s T20 Blast: Kent beat Somerset as Gloucestershire lose again
Daniel Bell-Drummond hammered a 48-ball century as Kent Spitfires ended Somerset’s 100% start to their T20 Blast campaign.
Meanwhile, reigning champions Gloucestershire suffered a fifth successive defeat as Glamorgan beat them by 40 runs at Bristol.
Matthew Potts inspired Durham to a crushing six-wicket win over Yorkshire, with the England paceman returning Blast-best figures of 5-17 at York’s Clifton Park.
And three-times winners Leicestershire ended a two-game losing streak with a comfortable win over Worcestershire.
Match scorecards
This year’s T20 Blast had been missing a centurion before Bell-Drummond made the most of the batter-friendly conditions to help down South Group leaders Somerset.
The 31-year-old smashed 12 fours and four sixes and shared an opening stand of 158 with Tawanda Muyeye (70) to give the Spitfires the ideal platform after being asked to bat.
Muyeye’s effort was his second highest score in the format, but when he was the third man out at 200, Kent added only a further 28 runs from the remaining four overs.
The home side had successfully chased down a victory target of 230 to beat Middlesex last Thursday and an early onslaught from Tom Banton (68) and Will Smeed (24), in which they put on 91 from the first seven overs, threatened to make this one look even easier.
Nathan Gilchrist dropped Banton in the deep when he had made only two and that error looked like it could be costly as he thrashed five fours and six sixes from 33 balls only for the Kent man to make up for his fielding misdemeanour by trapping the England batsman lbw.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore (38), Sean Dickson (31*) and Ben Green (25) kept Somerset’s hopes alive but a fine final over from Tom Rogers, with 19 runs required, earned Kent a vital win to push them into fifth place.
Gloucestershire’s glory of winning the title in 2024 must seem an age ago after a fifth defeat from five games as they lost six wickets for 25 runs to lose to Glamorgan.
Asa Tribe continued to enhance his growing reputation as the Jersey batsman struck five fours and five sixes in an unbeaten 63 from just 28 balls to top score for the visitors in their 189-6 at Bristol.
The home side seemed to have their target of 190 within reach at 103-3, but spinners Mason Crane (4-20) and Imad Wasim (3-23) put the squeeze on and despite Cameron Bancroft’s 52 they subsided to 149-9 and are the only team in the competition yet to register a point.
“There is massive hurt and disappointment because our performances are not due to shortage of effort or lack of preparation,” said Gloucestershire captain Jack Taylor.
“We are not out of the competition, but we have made it very difficult for ourselves to defend the trophy.”