Kent 116 for 3 (Cox 38*, Denly 35*, Smith 3-22) beat Gloucestershire 113 (Dent 55, Hogan 3-13) by seven wickets

A close to full home at Canterbury noticed the Kent Spitfires rout Gloucestershire by seven wickets of their opening Vitality Blast fixture of 2023.

The 2021 Champions cruised dwelling with 6.3 overs to spare, closing on 116 for 3 in reply to the guests' meagre 113 all out.

With greater than 3700 spectators packed into the Spitfire Ground and standing room solely on the bankings, Gloucestershire selected to bat.

Leaning then bowled Miles Hammond for 9 however Dent hit successive sixes in George Linde's first over, just for Gloucestershire to lose their final seven wickets for simply 31 runs.

Leaning had Ollie Price caught at lengthy off by Richardson for 12 and though Dent reached fifty when he glanced Leaning for 4, Hogan began the collapse when he took two wickets within the tenth over. Dent fell to an acrobatic catch by Sam Billings, who was again behind the stumps after handing Cox the gloves for the final two Championship video games, earlier than Jack Taylor provided the wicketkeeper a dolly.

Denly ran out Zafar Gohar for 8 earlier than James Bracey swiped Stewart to the sq. leg boundary, the place he was caught by Leaning for 7.

Two balls later, Stewart bowled Paul van Meekeren for a duck and though Smith simply survived the subsequent supply, he was out for 4 when he chipped Richardson to Cox.

Richardson then wrapped up the innings with 21 balls to spare when he had David Payne caught behind for a golden duck.

There was an early hiccup within the run chase when Tawanda Muyeye tried to drive Price and was caught by Hammond at mid-off for six however Kent have been virtually midway to the goal by the tip of the powerplay, at 55 for 1.

When Daniel Bell-Drummond was lbw to Smith for 27 it broke a 52-run partnership and Billings was then out for six when he tried to reverse-sweep Smith and fell to a juggling catch by Zafar, however that was as shut as Kent got here to a wobble.

With the required run charge beneath 4 they did not have to take any dangers however Cox appeared to be in a rush, taking 17 from van Meekern within the twelfth over, together with a flicked six over backward sq. leg. He scrambled a single of the subsequent ball to maintain the strike after which smacked Zafar for an enormous six over into the Cowdrey Stand to win the sport.