1:32 AM IST and 9:02 PM Local Time: Essex have completely ruled the roost throughout the entire away game against Kent and emerged out victorious by 9 wickets. 129 was never enough on this wicket to defend and Kent naturally failed to do so. Essex chased it inside 13.4 overs and it is a thumping victory for them.
Essex won the toss and elected to bowl first. The top order of Kent did not do well at all and that reeled them back in this game. Tawanda Mueye (1), Zak Crawley (7) and skipper Sam Billings (8) got out for single digit scores and Daniel Bell-Drummond was dismissed for 13. Kent was reduced to 30/4 and eventually lost Joe Denly (14) to lose half of their side with just 46 on the board.
Dian Forrester and Jacob Lintott decided to put up a fight back then. Forrester continued his good form in T20 cricket and sporadically played his shots. When Kent lost Lintott (18), they were 94/6. That 48-run stand gave them some relief. Forrester was the leading run scorer for his side scoring 34 facing as many balls with 3 fours and a six. After his dismissal, the Spitfires posted 27 runs more in the remaining 16 balls and the courtesy goes to Matt Milnes. He hit 3 fours to remain unbeaten on 15 off 7 balls to take the score to 129.
Charlie Bennett (3/25) and Wiaan Mulder (3/26) were the pick of the bowlers for Essex and they got good assistances from Shane Snater (2/23) and Zaman Akhter (1/18).
Essex knew that they had only 130 runs to chase down in a decent batting track. So their openers, Paul Walter and Michael-Kyle Pepper started cautiously. They took only 9 runs from the first two overs and took 9 from the third over. Essex were going run-a-ball after the third over. Michael-Kyle Pepper tonked Milnes for a six then marking his first sign of aggression and Walter also followed his partner in the final ball of the over to take 16 from the fourth over. The sixth over went for 14 runs and Essex found them at a comfortable position with the scoreboard reading 56/0 after the powerplay.
Pepper then teed off. He took on Tom Rogers for a boundary and a maximum in the seventh over of the innings and hit Matthew Parkinson for a hat-trick of boundaries in the 9th over to bring up his half-century in 31 balls. Walter hitting a few boundaries at the other end helped the scoreboard to move from both ends.
When Pepper's mistimed ramp was snaffled by Sam Billings off Tom Rogers, the damage had been done. Kent got a wicket but it was too late for the home side to get one. The scoreboard read 110/1 with Pepper scoring 64 off 40 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes. Charlie Allison and Paul Walter finished the job inside 14 overs. Walter finished unbeaten with 42 off 30 and Allison contributed 18 off 12 and Essex got the comfortable victory by 9 wickets.