Riaz, Northeast steer Kent home

Wahab Riaz, debuting for Kent, and Sam Northeast shared an unbeaten fifth-wicket stand of 66 in 26 balls to help Kent win their first Friends Life t20 victory with a six-wicket win over Glamorgan.

After being put in to bat, Glamorgan appeared in control of the contest after posting a more than competitive 154 for five in their 20 overs on a slow Cardiff pitch. Kent looked in some difficulty at 59 for two at the halfway stage, which left them needing 96 off the final 10 overs. But Riaz (32), the Pakistan seamer, and Northeast (33) held their nerve to win the game with two balls to spare.

Glamorgan had got off to a rattling start with skipper Alviro Petersen, who was awarded his Glamorgan cap in the interval, and Mark Cosgrove scoring 56 from the opening six overs. Cosgrove looked in prime form as he struck Azhar Mahmood for 15 off the third over of the innings including a six over long-off. Cosgrove followed that up by stroking a straight six off Charl Langeveldt before hitting Riaz for two boundaries in his first over.

But Kent fought back well to slow Glamorgan's run rate, which was helped when Cosgrove was dismissed for 47 from 31 balls after being caught by Robert Key at extra cover off Adam Ball.

Glamorgan found themselves struggling for runs against the slower Kent bowlers on a tough pitch. It was left to Petersen, who scored 65 from 56 balls, to try to bat through the innings which he nearly did until he was bowled in the final over.

At the start of their reply Kent's openers Rob Key and Joe Denly found runs hard to come by, making just 37 runs in the opening six overs. And Glamorgan appeared to be heading for their second win when the spinners Robert Croft, who went for just 21 from his four overs, and Dean Cosker tried to strangle the Kent run rate.

There were signs that Kent were not going to give up when Darren Stevens hit two sixes off Cosker. When Stevens was caught at long-on off Croft, Kent were reduced to 89 for four in the 15th over.

But Riaz was sent up the order and immediately had an impact by taking sixes off Croft and Will Owen. Kent were left with 33 to get off the final three overs but kept their focus as Riaz struck the winning runs.