LAST night’s abject televised defeat for Kent at the hands of Essex in the T20 has left our Spitfires columnist BRAD PINARD on the brink of despair.

COMICAL, pathetic, embarrassing and worrying – four words to describe Kent’s recent woes in the T20 South Group.

I was sat at home last night watching Sky Sports Ashes, eagerly anticipating the Spitfires to chase down a realistic 181 on a pitch which was a batsmen’s paradise with short boundaries.

It didn’t take long for me to realise Kent had no chance.

Essex have one of the best squads in the country and will be there or there abouts come finals day, but another collapse from the Spitfires could well be the last straw.

Captain James Tredwell, along with loanee Mitchell Claydon, bowled superbly against a world class batting line-up.

But ultimately they were the only two Spitfires players to come out of the game with any dignity.

Adam Riley and Vernon Phillander both conceded more than 10 runs an over, while the reliable Darren Stevens was brought out of the attack after just six deliveries.

But as I said, 181 was not a bad target for Kent.

Oh how wrong was I.

Former skipper Rob Key looked disinterested opening the batting and young Sam Northeast was the only player to break 20 as the Spitfires were embarrassingly bowled out for just 118.

The lack of ambition and belief was evident as no player looked in touch with the bat, unlike Essex, something I can’t see that changing any time soon.

Swings and misses, forward defensives and comedy attempt sweep shots were the order of the day as Kent were made to look very silly live on Sky.

The only way I see things improving is by adding new faces to the lower order.

Another overseas player is permitted and Kent need a world class batsman to steady the ship, even if qualification is already beyond them.

The Essex Eagles’ two overseas players showed exactly what they bring to the team and Kent couldn’t handle them.

Geraint Jones was brought back into the side to try and get runs - he scored eight.

Even danger man Stevens could only notch 18 before mistiming a slog.

I was browsing Twitter during the game and saw many fans from around the country mocking Kent and their pathetic batting line-up.

This is not the Kent we know and love.

One-day cricket was our forte but yet five defeats from five games leaves us rock bottom of the South Group and also adrift in the County Championship Division Two.

While still in with a chance of qualification from the YB40 Group A, if the batsmen continue to play like this it will go down as the worst season in Spitfires history.

I usually like to end on a positive but I genuinely can’t find one. ,/p>

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