Tom Banton scored his second T20 hundred against Kent Spitfires as the hosts lost their unbeaten record at Canterbury on Monday night.

Spitfires, who had never lost at home to Somerset in the T20 Blast, tasted defeat at the St Lawrence ground for the first time in five matches.

Banton blasted a 51-ball century at Taunton two years ago to set up a 55-run win. Kent's attack that day included Adam Milne and Fred Klaassen, the pair again coming in for punishment from Banton at Canterbury.

Alongside Banton was New Zealand starlet Devon Conway, who has emerged on the international scene since making his debut at the end of 2020. He chipped in with an unbeaten half-century as Somerset won with 26 balls to spare.

While the thunderstorms stayed away from Canterbury, fog swept across the ground for much of Kent’s innings, but if anything it made visibility more difficult for the fielders and had largely cleared by the time Somerset batted.

Lewis Gregory took 4-27 and Craig Overton 2-40 as Kent posted 168-8. Zak Crawley was their top scorer with 39, while Joe Denly made 36.

Somerset won the toss and chose to field in ever-thickening mist, but it didn’t seem to affect their eyesight as Kent’s first seven dismissals were all caught.

The hosts made a strong start before Daniel Bell-Drummond was out for 28, giving a return catch to Overton with the final ball of the powerplay, leaving Kent on 53-1.

Crawley was taken by Max Waller at deep mid-wicket off Gregory, who then had Denly caught by Marchant De Lange on the long-off boundary.

Having hit six off the previous delivery, Alex Blake skied Overton and was excellently held by a tumbling Gregory for 19 and Jack Leaning holed out to De Lange, caught by Tom Lammonby for five.

Darren Stevens was snared for eight by Conway off Jack Brooks and Milne made just one when he hit Gregory to Will Smeed. Qais Ahmad hit his wicket first ball, trying to scoop Gregory, before Matt Milnes hit a four with the final ball of the innings, leaving Jordan Cox unbeaten on 16.

As the mist cleared, Somerset cantered through the powerplay to 73-0, aided by some ordinary fielding and bowling - Milnes conceded four boundaries in the second over of the innings while the returning Milne bowled the fifth over that went for 21 runs.

Banton hit Klaassen for six over fine leg to bring up his 50, and reached his century off 47 balls with a single off Milne.

Conway tied the scores when he drove Milnes for two to reach his half-century and he then glanced the same bowler for a single to backward square leg to complete the most emphatic of wins.

Bell-Drummond said: “It’s a tough one to take, I’m still trying to get my head round it. None of our batters quite got going and Banton’s hundred was outstanding.

"The conditions did change a bit but not so much that we should have got thrashed by however many overs.

"It’s a tough one to take but we have to pick ourselves up for tomorrow (versus Sussex). It’s still quite raw and it clearly wasn’t good enough.”

Read more: All the latest sports news in Kent