Kent Spitfires (117-4) lose by 11 runs on Duckworth-Lewis to Sussex Sharks (228-7) after Ravi Bopara century

Kent Spitfires missed the chance to all-but secure a place in the T20 Blast knockout stages, losing their final group home game to Sussex Sharks at Canterbury on Friday night.

The hosts couldn’t chase down 129 for a Duckworth-Lewis win inside 10 overs amid a rain-affected match, as they were beaten by 11 runs, after a brilliant Ravi Bopara century had seen the visitors total 228 from their 20-over allocation.

A seventh straight Blast victory in front of a sold-out ground would have seen Spitfires within sight of the knockout stages although, with basement boys Middlesex beating Essex Eagles, Kent only need to beat Somerset this Sunday at Taunton to book their spot in the Quarter-Finals still.

Bowler Matt Quinn reflected: “I think ‘chaotic’ is probably the best word to describe it.

“We were bowling in the rain for pretty much the whole 20 overs – the ball was like a bar of soap! You try and bowl your variations and you can’t really bowl them so, as I said, it was a bit of a chaotic game.

“But we’d won six games in a row, we’ve had a lull here, but we know we’re playing knockout cricket now.

“If we can take it back to 2021 [their T20 Blast triumph] – or even what we did last year [when they won the Royal London One-Day Cup] – we’re confident that we can do that again.”

Spitfires skipper Sam Billings won the toss and elected to bowl first, with white-ball specialist Alex Blake back in the team alongside Quinn in place of Australian Wes Agar and Joe Denly, who had knocks.

The hosts opened with Jack Leaning’s spin (1-25). Amid a mixed start, he was sent for the first boundary off the second ball by Harrison Ward - only for the opener to, somehow, be bowled by a drag-down three balls later for five.

Recalled Quinn (2-43) was