Kent Spitfires (184-4) lost to Essex Eagles (188-6) by four wickets in T20 Blast

Kent Spitfires suffered a second T20 Blast defeat inside three days at Canterbury, losing to Essex Eagles by four wickets on Friday night.

Undeterred by winning the toss and unwisely batting first in Wednesday's defeat to Somerset, Kent captain Sam Billings again opted to try and put a score on the board under sunny skies.

Kent got off to a flying start in the powerplay, not losing a wicket until Daniel Bell-Drummond was bowled by Aron Nijjar for 31 to leave them 62-1 in the seventh over.

Zak Crawley hit seven boundaries in his 29-ball 40 but was trapped leg before by Simon Harmer when attempting a reverse sweep.

Joe Denly's 35 included one maximum, off Aussie debutant Daniel Sams (1-47) over mid-wicket, but he went the next ball, through his shot too quickly to a slower ball.

When Jack Leaning departed for two shortly afterwards, Kent were 128-4 with 4.3 overs left to bat. But that saw George Linde and Billings come together in swashbuckling style.

Billings hit three sixes and four fours in his 31-ball 48 not out while Linde finished 23 not out from 11 balls with two sixes and one four as the duo put on 56 runs to help Spitfires post 184-4.

Essex Eagles took 16 off Joe Denly's opening over and were ahead of the required rate despite losing Adam Rossington for 29 - bowled by Fred Klaassen - in the fifth over. His 16-ball 29 included two sixes.

Michael Pepper (6) and opener Will Buttleman fell in quick succession as the spin duo of Qais Ahmad (1-24) and Linde (1-30) threatened to drag Spitfires back into the game.

But the runs continued to flow and Matt Critchley hit a couple of boundaries off Matt Milnes before he was bowled for 18 in 11 balls, Essex 112-4 in the 12th over.

Sams, horribly dropped by Matt Quinn off Ahmad