Kent shine brightest under new lights

Kent 191 for 3 (van Jaarsveld 75, Stevens 56) beat Middlesex 129 for 8 (Tredwell 2-14) by 62 runs
Scorecard

The permanent Lord's floodlights were officially unveiled on Wednesday, but Kent outshone Middlesex, in revenge for last year's final, as the home side slumped to their second heavy Twenty20 defeat in two matches by 62 runs. Martin van Jaarsveld and Darren Stevens, who reached his fifty off 21 balls, launched Kent to 191, a target that proved well out of the reach of Middlesex despite the return of Owais Shah and Eoin Morgan.

Middlesex's best moment came in the opening over when Dawid Malan held a stunning catch at mid-off to send back Robert Key for a second ball duck but from there they went downhill. van Jaarsveld could have been run out early and Malan's catch set a fielding standard that couldn't be maintained. van Jaarsveld's fifty came from 38 balls and he added 60 with Geraint Jones before Stevens arrived to take the game away from Middlesex.

Stevens raced to his fifty with a succession of boundaries off Tyron Henderson, who was given some fearful hammer in his final two overs to finish with 56 off his four overs. None of the Middlesex batsmen could build an innings with Morgan falling to his reverse lap and Shah lofting a catch off James Tredwell after managing one huge six over deep midwicket.

A dull, chilly evening, coupled with the Champions League final, led to another disappointing crowd, but at least meant the lights had an effect earlier than would have been the case on a sunny day. There were very few in the ground when the lights were raised at 6pm, a process that takes around eight minutes and the in total it takes 25 minutes until they are up to full power.

Middlesex trained under the lights earlier this week and Angus Fraser, their managing director of cricket, said the players were delighted with them. They have been designed with concerns of local residents in mind and when at their resting height blend in well with the overall design of the ground.

Abacus, the lighting company behind them, said they'd been conscious of making them fit the architecture already at Lord's and used the curves of the media centre as a guide. Tony Staten, the contracts manager for Abacus, said it had been "one of the most challenging jobs" they had worked on. At one point their unearthed a Victorian sewer when they were digging the foundations and also had to lower one of the pylons over huge trees at Nursery End.

By the time the lights were having their full impact the match was over as a contest with the Middlesex batsmen swinging from the hip. Maybe they wanted to catch the end of the football.