Kent Spitfires v Middlesex Crusaders

Kent's reign as Twenty20 Cup champions came to a dramatic end at the Rose Bowl on Saturday night when they lost by three runs in a tense last ball defeat.

Needing three for a tie, and with it victory, Kent hero Justin Kemp, on 49 from 38 balls, aimed to drive straight but simply picked out bowler Tyron Henderson who ran out the Spitfires batsman and clinched a first T20 success for Middlesex.

Chasing the highest ever cup final total, Kent’s impetus received an early boost when Rob Key heaved six off Tim Murtagh over long leg, then both Key and Denly hit boundaries off Tyron Henderson’s first over that cost 15.

Left-arm seamer Dirk Nannes then dropped short, allowing Key to cut to the ropes at third man, then, in over compensating, he allowed Key to drive four through extra cover as Spitfires reached 51 without loss after five overs.

Henderson released the pressure on Denly by allowing the 22-year-old to drive three boundaries inside four balls, then Key completed the over with a square drive to the ropes as 17 came off the over.

The introduction of left-arm spinner Murali Kartik, from the West End, and veteran Shaun Udal, to bowl in tandem from the Pavilion End, temporarily halted the flood of boundaries but, even so, Key and Denly posted Kent’s best opening stand of the T20 campaign, beating their 80 against Surrey in game two.

Key drove for four over extra cover off Kartik to reach his first T20 50 of the summer, from 28 balls and with nine fours and a six, but his celebrations soon soured when, in trying a back foot force, he edged through to keeper Ben Scott to make it 89-1.

Kent promoted out-of-form Justin Kemp to bat at three, but he lost Denly (31 from 25 balls) when a miscued pull against Udal picked out Billy Godleman at deep mid-wicket.

Then, in the next over, Yasir Arafat (1) was run out when, backing up to a Kartik no ball, he was sent back by Kemp and run out by a direct hit by Ed Joyce running in from square leg.

Upset by the needless dismissal, Kemp took his anger out on the ball and clattered the free hit for a straight six and the next one flew just as far over the ropes at long-on.

Udal’s excellent stint ended with fine figures of 1-21 while Kartik was replaced by Tim Murtagh, who conceded a boundary to Kemp but should have had the big-hitter with his score 24 when Joyce at long off dropped a hard chance that sped towards him straight out of the floodlights.

Kemp clubbed another six to finish the over and, after 15, Kent’s score of 136-3 was identical to that of Middlesex and 52 were needed from the last five overs.

Kartik switched ends to concede only five from his fourth over and all of a sudden Kent needed almost two-a-ball to win it.

Stevens went right back in his crease to straight drive a near yorker-length ball from Henderson for six and then paddled a full toss to fine leg for another boundary.

Spitfires needed 33 from the last 18 balls as Murtagh switched ends to bowl from the Pavilion and concede only five from the over.

With the pressure at its peak, Spitfires required 28 from 12 balls with seven wickets in hand and they were given renewed hope when Stevens off drove Nannes for six but, to the next ball, Stevens (33) toe-ended to Joyce at mid-wicket to make it 166-4.

Curucially Stevens walked off with the ball in the air and didn’t make the effort to cross and leave Kemp on strike, so it was Azhar Mahmood who swung and missed the next two balls.

The all-rounder’s strong right-hand clubbed a four through mid-wicket off the fifth delivery and a two off the last, leaving his side to hit 16 off the final over of the final.

Kemp skied two over cover off the first and straight four off the second, taking the equation to 10 runs from four balls.

Kemp clattered the next straight and ran two, but Dawid Malan’s throw from long off went for two over throws to long leg and Spitfires needed six from three balls.

Kemp scrambled two to mid-wicket off the fourth ball, but then played over a slower ball ensuring they needed three to tie and four to win, but Henderson stopped Kemp’s drive off the last ball and ran him out at the non-striker’s end to seal the Crusaders’ win.

Earlier, former England one-day star Owais Shah starred with a cameo 75 from 35 balls with five sixes and six fours as the men nattily dressed in pink cantered along at 9.4 over under the Rose Bowl floodlights.

It was left-handed Ed Joyce who got them off to a cracking start with four fours from Azhar Mahmood's second over of the innings.

His hitting was so powerful that the ball was knocked out of shape, but Kent struck with the first delivery with the replacement ball when Yasir Arafat nipped one back off the seam to peg back Godleman's leg stump and send the left-hander packing for one.

Former Kent all-rounder Henderson, who starred in Spitfires' run to the quarter finals in 2006, marched in at No3 but struggled to find his timing early on.

He should have gone with his score on eight when a flat-batted pull at Ryan McLaren picked out Mahmood who inexplicably downed a simple chance at mid-wicket.

Henderson celebrated with a huge six over mid-wicket, as he and Joyce added 28 before the latter, on 23, drove hard at a wide one from Simon Cook to edge through to Geraint Jones who was stood up.

Henderson continued to club the ball hard and had reached 44 from 33 balls when he backed away against McLaren and drove uppishly off the back foot towards Key diving to his right at extra cover. Thinking it was a bump ball, the umpires referred the decision to third official Richard Illingworth but he upheld Kent's appeal.

Shah took up the big-hitting mantle thereafter by taking three successive sixes, that forced James Tredwell out of the attack, as he powered to a 25-ball 50 - his first in the cup this season.

Shah's stunning knock finally ended when McLaren returned to peg back his middle and off stumps with a quick, full-length in-ducker.

Eoin Morgan (23) was bamboozled by Azhar's slower ball, which he miscued to mid-wicket, then Shaun Udal (1) played across the line in Arafat's excellent 'at the death' stint yet Crusaders still marched on to the highest ever total in a final since T20 began in 2003.

Arafat and McLaren claimed two wickets apiece, but this was far from Kent's best performance with the ball or in the field.

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