Northeast made a t20 best of 39 against Glamorgan. Picture: Barry Goodwin

By Mark Stokes

Kent remain very much in the shake-up for the Friends Life t20 quarter-finals after battling to a last-over, five-wicket victory over the Glamorgan Dragons at Canterbury on Sunday.

The win, Kent’s second at the St Lawrence Ground inside three days and their fifth in a row at home, kept them in the South Group qualifying spots with four matches to go.

Chasing down Glamorgan’s 138-6 on a slow wicket, Kent stuttered to 85-5 in the 14th over before Sam Northeast and Geraint Jones steered them home with an unbeaten stand of 57.

Tight spells by Robert Croft (3-27 in four overs) and Dean Cosker (0-24 in four) had bowled Glamorgan into contention, but Northeast and Jones held their nerve, plundering 30 runs from the 17th and 18th overs to set up victory - which came with four balls to spare.

Man-of-the-match Northeast finished unbeaten with a competition-best 39, made from 25 balls with a six and five fours, while Jones made 30, from 22 deliveries with a six and two fours.

Director of cricket Paul Farbrace admitted Kent had been made to work hard for the points but was full of praise for his sixth-wicket pair.

He said: "In the end it was a bit tight, but it was the second time the wicket had been used. It's a re-laid wicket and it was a bit two-paced.

"Jonesie was great. Sam played brilliantly but to have Jonah at the other end playing the way he did was fantastic.

"Geraint is an experienced cricketer and this season he's got starts in games and not gone on. Today he went on and showed his quality. The pair of them were really calm under pressure."

Glamorgan batted after winning the toss and openers Mark Cosgrove and Alviro Petersen made a confident start, adding 32 before left-hander Cosgrove was bowled for 19 by Azhar Mahmood’s slower ball in the fourth over.

Petersen was then joined by Jim Allenby and as the pair continued to score at eight an over the fifty came up in the seventh over.

Petersen had moved smoothly to 33 from 23 balls when he fell to a superb return catch by Adam Ball, who caught the Glamorgan skipper’s firm drive just off the ground.

Glamorgan were 63-2 at that stage and it was 80-3 in the 12th over when Jim Allenby was caught behind for 14 off James Tredwell.

Ball (1-19 in four overs) and Tredwell (1-19 in four) bowled well in tandem conceding just 38 runs in eight overs during the middle of the innings, and Glamorgan were never really able to regain momentum.

Chris Cooke (4) was fourth out at 89, after pulling Wahab Riaz into the hands of James Tredwell, and with the score at 105, Darren Stevens arrowed the ball in over the stumps from deep midwicket to run out the diving Gareth Rees (6).

The clatter of wickets continued as Graham Wagg, batting with Petersen as a runner, was well caught for 24 by Joe Denly running round from long on to give Charl Langeveldt a wicket.

Nineteen came from the penultimate over, from Riaz - including five wides - but Mahmood restricted Glamorgan to just six from the last, James Harris finishing unbeaten on 17. The Welshmen's innings contained just one six - hit early on by Cosgrove.

Needing to score at around seven an over, Kent's reply suffered a setback in the third over when Joe Denly set off for a run only to see he had trodden on his own his wicket, leaving them 14-1.

Only 34 runs came from the opening six overs, and there was a second unusual dismissal, with the score at 48, when skipper Rob Key reverse swept the ball onto his pads and was caught behind by the alert Mark Wallace for 18.

Darren Stevens hit the first six of the Kent innings in the 10th over but two balls later Robert Croft got his revenge by bowling him for 10, leaving Kent 66-3 at halfway.

Mahmood - who had looked the most comfortable batting against the slower bowlers - fell leg before to Jim Allenby for 32 to make it 84-4 and Alex Blake lasted just three balls before Croft trapped him leg before as he missed with an attempted reverse sweep.

That left Kent struggling at 85-5 but then Northeast was joined by Jones and together the pair got the home side over the line for their sixth win, in 12 matches.

Kent are next in action on Wednesday when they travel to Bristol to face the Gloucestershire Gladiators. Kent won by eight wickets when the teams met at Beckenham last month.