DARREN Stevens was the man of the moment for Kent as he produced a bowling master class to send the Spitfires through to the quarter-final stages at the expense of rivals Essex Eagles on Friday night.

The veteran all-rounder, who passed 2,000 runs in the competition earlier in the night, claimed four big wickets to restrict the Eagles to 168-9 in pursuit of Kent's impressive 183-3.

Stevens finished with figures of 4-21 from his four-over spell and Essex, who had lost Ravi Bopara, Owais Shah and Ryan ten Doeschate during that session, failed to recover.

Kent progress from the South Group alongside Hampshire, Somerset and Sussex and will face Leicestershire Foxes in the last eight of the competition they won back in 2007.

After being asked to bat first by Essex skipper James Foster, the Spitfires made a promising start thanks to a steady 49-run opening stand between Joe Denly and Rob Key (21 off 16) inside seven overs.

England international Bopara broke the partnership when he uprooted Key’s middle stump, although Denly kept the scoreboard ticking over at a lively rate.

Essex gradually restricted the flow of runs and a rare wicket-maiden in the 13th over from Tim Southee, who bowled Azhar Mahmood for a brisk 31, put the brakes on the Spitfires.

A controversial moment then followed as Scott Styris was left fuming when the third umpire overturned what looked like a fantastic diving catch to dismiss Stevens.

Kent cashed in on this as Denly and Stevens took David Masters' 15th over of the match for 19 with the score racing towards 150.

This was a massive turning point in the match and Styris would later do justice with the bat as he tried to desperately get the Eagles back in the game.

Denly made 69 off 54 balls before he was beaten by the bowling of Doeschate, but Stevens continued his late assault and took Kent to 183-3 at the interval.

Essex laboured early in the reply and lost opener Mark Pettini in the second over when Mahmood snuck one through his defences and into the stumps.

Adam Wheater (27 off 19) was the second wicket to fall when Stevens outfoxed him, Jones polished off a slick stumping and that brought Bopara to the middle.

Shah (27 from 20) launched Stevens over the stand at midwicket, but the Kent all-rounder got his revenge three balls later before holding a return catch to remove the dangerous Bopara.

On 77-4 and in the 11th over, Essex needed something special from either of their foreign imports Styris or ten Doeschate.

However, the latter was the next to be outdone by Stevens, who snuck an inswinger into his middle stump.

Foster then had his middle stump flattened by Wahab Riaz and although Styris (40 off 26) and Napier (26 from 15) launched a spirited assault at the death, it was too little, too late for the home side.

Kent will now travel to Grace Road and face Leicestershire on August 6 (5pm) in their quarter-final clash.

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