Grant Flower watches on from the boundary as Kent move closer to the target of 168
Essex Eagles crashed to an opening day Twenty20 defeat at the County Ground last night despite an inspired knock of 98 from all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate.
The Eagles made the worst possible start to their match against the Kent Spitfires – losing two wickets in the first over for just four runs.
Three balls in Mark Pettini (1) pushed at a shot to hand Malinga Bandara a simple catch at mid-on.
Ravi Bopara (1) followed just a few balls later as he was clean bowled – although umpires had to take it to a video replay to rule out an attempted stumping as Geraint Jones stood up to the wicket.
Graham Napier (12) did attempt to rally his side with the first boundaries of the game in the third over but smart bowling from Simon Cook removed the all-rounder and Grant Flower (7) to leave the Eagles 24 for 4.
Ryan ten Doeschate (98) and Matt Walker (21) came to the wicket and a huge six from Walker in the sixth over signalled their intention - as well as damaging slate on a local roof as it flew out of the ground.
Ten Doeschate then came into his own hitting two sixes in three balls as Bandara’s bowling was given a thorough examination.
Walker was caught miss-hitting an attempted six off James Tredwell in the twelfth over but two sixes in a row by ten Doeschate, again off the bowling of Bandara, saw the Dutch international bring up Essex’s century and his half century.
James Foster (14) did offer temporary support before being clean bowled by Tredwell in the sixteenth over but by now the Chelmsford crowd knew this was the ten Doeschate show.
The all-rounder smashed another three sixes including one down and out of the ground but fell just two short of his century as he looked to run himself back on strike in the final over.
The Eagles eventually closed on 167 for 9 – a score that had looked impossible when Essex were limping at 24 for 4.
David Masters began the Kent innings brilliantly restricting the opening pair of Robert Key (25) and Joe Denly (16) to just a single off the last ball of the first over.
Denly was soon gone clean bowled in the fifth over by Napier before the impressive Key was removed in farcical fashion as he was run out looking for a quick single off an LBW appeal.
The Eagles kept themselves in strong contention up until a nightmare fourteenth over bowled by Tim Phillips.
Three sixes and two fours saw 27 runs from the over as Geraint Jones found his form to race to his half century.
Napier eventually bowled Jones for 54 in a tight seventeenth over but with six wickets to spare the Spitfires cut loose as Cook drove the winning boundary as Kent reached victory on 170 for 4 with an over to spare.
The Eagles will now have to wait a week to put their T20 campaign back on track as they travel to Surrey Lions next Thursday (6.30pm) before hosting Glamorgan Dragons at the County Ground on Friday (7pm).