Kent Spitfires (149) lost to Essex Eagles (331) by 182 runs at Chelmsford in Royal London One-Day Cup

Kent Spitfires fell woefully short in a run chase for the second successive Royal London One-Day Cup game on Thursday evening.

Chasing Essex's 331, Kent were well set at 76-1 but lost their last five wickets for just five runs as they were quickly skittled out for 149.

Essex opted to bat first and had to recover from a double breakthrough early on for Kent which saw the hosts 33-2 in the seventh over.

Feroze Khushi was first to go when he got a leading edge to give Matt Quinn a return catch. Fellow opener Josh Rymell followed lbw to Navdeep Saini.

Tom Westley and Grant Roelofsen joined forces to put on a match-defining third-wicket stand of 184 in just under 30 overs. Westley contributed 109 from 101 balls, while Roelofsen chipped in with a 79-ball 77, his 14th score above fifty in List A cricket, the others in his native South Africa.

Westley accelerated through his eighties with three fours in an over from Nathan Gilchrist that ultimately cost 19 runs. A characteristic flick off his legs for his 13th four took Westley to a 96-ball century.

Roelofsen’s anchorman role came to an end after 79 balls with a momentary lapse of concentration when Indian bowler Saini sent his middle-stump cartwheeling. Westley followed almost immediately when he scooped the fit-again Joe Denly (1-37) to Joey Evison on the fence at long-on.

That wicket-taking combination was reversed with Denly taking a spectacular diving catch at mid-on off Evison (3-62) to account for Aaron Beard. Four balls later Aron Nijjar, like Westley, picked out Evison to hand Hamid Qadri a wicket.

With Essex slipping from 217-2 to 250-6 in five overs, it needed some agricultural hitting from Shane Snater to ensure they went beyond 300.

Saini lost his composure with two