T20 Blast: Kent cruise to win over Gloucestershire with Daniel Bell-Drummond half-century

Daniel Bell-Drummond hit his fourth half-century in this season's T20 Blast, moving him on to 369 runs in nine matches

Kent Spitfires boosted their hopes of progressing from the South Group in the T20 Blast with a seven-wicket win over Gloucestershire in Bristol.

After being put into bat, the hosts were bowled out for 137 in the final over, with captain and opener Miles Hammond top-scoring with 30.

An unbeaten 56 from opener Daniel Bell-Drummond guided Kent home with 18 balls left after a couple of cheap run outs.

Jordan Cox, who picked up three catches and a run out, ended on 31 not out.

A third straight victory lifts the Spitfires up to fifth in the table and puts them two points behind Hampshire Hawks in the final quarter-final spot, while Gloucestershire remain in seventh, two points below Kent, after a third consecutive defeat.

Gloucestershire are back in action on Sunday, making the short trip to Glamorgan, with Kent's next outing on Tuesday when the Spitfires travel to Sussex Sharks.

• T20 Blast scores and fixtures

Gloucestershire collapse proves costly

On a dry pitch, which appeared a bit two-paced at times, Gloucestershire opener Grant Roelofsen was out from the first ball of the match, with a bouncing Fred Klaassen delivery edging off the shoulder of the bat and into the hands of Jack Leaning at slip.

Yet the hosts attacked in the early stages, with Ben Wells and newly-appointed T20 skipper Hammond putting on 51 runs by the end of the fifth over.

Wells had survived a scare after miscuing a ramp shot but was out to the next delivery he faced, clean bowled for 15 while looking to hit out at a Kane Richardson cutter, and two balls later Ben Charlesworth pulled to Tawanda Muyeye at deep square leg to depart for a duck.

Gloucestershire ended the powerplay 57-3 but Ollie Price was run out by some smart fielding by Cox from the first ball of the sixth over.

Hammond had reached 30 off 19 balls before being smartly caught behind by Sam Billings when he finely edged a seemingly innocuous delivery from Leaning, and in the spinner's next over Graeme van Buuren holed out to Cox at mid-on for six.

George Linde helped to restrict the runs in the middle overs, and Zafar Gohar and Tom Price brought up the 100 shortly after the latter was dropped by Michael Hogan at short fine leg on nine.

Yet Hogan made amends with two wickets in the following over, the 16th, with Zafar (25 from 26 balls) and Matt Taylor (seven off three) both caught by Cox, and Tom Price then swiped across the line to Grant Stewart and was caught by the advancing Billings for 11, leaving the score 114-9 in the 17th over.

After dealing in singles and twos, David Payne attacked the final over from Stewart, hitting a four and huge six down the ground before holing out to Leaning for 16 off nine deliveries and ending the innings with three balls remaining.

Bell-Drummond anchors Spitfires chase

Having lost their final nine wickets for 86 runs, Gloucestershire's total looked a few runs short of being competitive and Muyeye hit the first ball of the Spitfires chase for four.

But the Zimbabwe-born opener was needlessly run out for five two deliveries later as Bell-Drummond sought a quick single from a defensive shot that fell into the follow-through of bowler Payne.

Kent slowly rebuilt to 38-1 and then Tom Price took a fine low caught and bowled in the final over of the powerplay to send Joe Denly back to the pavilion for 11.

Captain Billings provided a necessary change of gear, taking 15 runs from off-spinner Ollie Price's first over, and the Spitfires looked comfortable at 77-2 at the halfway stage.

But Billings was then run out for 28 off 18 balls looking for a single after a mis-hit reverse sweep, with Wells' direct hit removing the bails.

However, Bell-Drummond and Cox navigated the spin overs and comfortably scored the 61 runs required to see the Spitfires home, with Bell-Drummond's half-century coming in 46 balls with three fours and two maximums.

That made it back-to-back half-centuries for the 29-year-old, who hit 66 off 42 in Friday's win at Middlesex, and took him to 369 runs in the competition this season.

Sunday's fixtures (all 14:30 BST)

• Derbyshire Falcons v Yorkshire Vikings

• Lancashire Lightning v Durham

• Leicestershire Foxes v Worcestershire Rapids

• Northamptonshire Steelbacks v Notts Outlaws

• Glamorgan v Gloucestershire

• Middlesex v Essex

• Surrey v Hampshire Hawks