Lancashire Lightning (156-7) beat Kent Spitfires (153) by three wickets in the Vitality Blast quarter-final at Old Trafford

Kent’s final chance of silverware this summer is over after they were knocked out of the Vitality Blast on Saturday.

Spitfires were unable to defend their below-par score of 153 all out at Old Trafford as England’s Liam Livingstone made a brilliant 85 not out off 47 balls to guide the hosts through to finals day next weekend.

Kent captain Sam Billings said: “Liam’s an international quality player, and he’s done it for a very long time. That was the difference today.

“We had a lot of guys get starts, and we kept on losing wickets through the middle. I thought, actually, had we got up to 165, that would have been a really tricky chase. Fair play, that was a hell of a knock (Livingstone).

“We kept on going (hard with the bat). As soon as two international spinners come on, you probably have to suck it up there. Myself and Joey Evison got out in quick succession. Had we created a partnership, we could have easily got to 170 after the start we got.

“At one point, I felt that we needed to get him out (Livingstone). We took a couple of risks which didn’t quite come off. Off Matt Parkinson, a couple of them went just over the boundary, and another day they’re out.

“We had to try and kill the game and get him out. That’s why I had to try and get Fred Klaassen back in the game. He did brilliantly, he bowled beautifully. It was one of those days of fine margins.

“We started off brilliantly with the ball, but it wasn’t to be.”

Billings opted to bat first but Kent lost Tawanda Muyeye, caught at mid-off, to the first ball of the match as Luke Wood struck on his way to figures of 3-29.

Kent then scored runs at a decent rate but lost wickets at key moments. Daniel Bell-Drummond (19) miscued James Anderson to backward point, Zak Crawley