Kent Spitfires suffered their fifth consecutive Friends Life t20 defeat and remain pointless in South Division after a 62-run drubbing against Essex Eagles on Monday night.

Once again Kent were made to pay for a slow start with the ball as the hosts got off to a blistering start, having been put in by captain James Tredwell and although a target of 181 looked gettable on a good track in a compact ground, it proved well beyond a side visibly lacking confidence and who have not scored more than 145 in their five games this season.

Loose bowling and some suspect fielding and dropped catches, including one skied ball from Hamish Rutherford which three players allowed to fall in the five-foot triangle between them, contributed to Kent's downfall.

The hosts piled on 59 from the first 27 deliveries when a short ball from Mitch Claydon got Mark Pettini to hit one straight up, with the on-loan Durham bowler completing the caught-and-bowled.

Pettini – who had been batting with a runner – had rattled five fours and a six in his17-ball blast.

Claydon struck again two balls later, getting Graham Napier to sky one in identical fashion from the first ball he faced to make it 60-2.

Tredwell bowled the fifth over and had Hamish Rutherford trapped leg before with his fifth delivery, sweeping across the line. Rutherford’s 27 came from just 14 balls and included two sixes and two fours.

However, Ravi Bopara and Owais Shah combined to put on 78 in less than 10 overs for the fourth wicket before they departed in similar fashion, holing out off Tredwell to Alex Blake on the deep square leg boundary, with both having scored 39.

Bopara’s shot drew a sliding catch from the Kent man while Shah’s hard-hit effort was spectacularly taken on the dive at head height, with replays from the Sky cameras in the crowd drawing applause from the packed house at Chelmsford.

After the departure of the duo with 26 balls remaining, the only resistance came from Ryan ten Doeschate who hit 27 from 17 balls before being caught by a diving Adam Riley off Philander, who finished with 1-50.

James Foster was caught by Tredwell off Claydon for three and Greg Smith was run-out by the paceman as he attempted a cheeky bye seconds later as the hosts eventually closed on 180-8.

The reply began brightly as Northeast cracked a six off Napier as his opening over went for 11. However, the flow of boundaries was stemmed by tight bowling from Shaun Tait, Reece Topley and Bopara, who eventually got Northeast (32) to swing and miss at a skidding delivery which realigned his stumps to make it 51-1.

Bopara (3-12 off three overs) proved to be a thorn in Kent's side and he accounted for Rob Key (17) as the Kent opener became the first of three players to be caught by substitute fielders.

At 60-2 in the ninth over, Kent were already below the required rate and Sam Billings (7) chipped meekly to Shah after a slower Bopara delivery.

So much rides on Darren Stevens' form these days but he was unable to steer his side towards victory, hitting a solitary six before holding out in the deep off Topley, who finished with an impressive 4-26 from four overs.

87-4 soon became 95-8 as Geraint Jones, Blake, Tredwell and Matt Coles went in a 16-ball nightmare spell.

Philander cracked an unbeaten 15, but Claydon and Riley (two each) couldn't stay with him as Kent were eventually bowled out for 118 - one more than they scored against the Eagles on Friday - with 15 balls to spare.