KENT crashed out of this year’s Twenty20 Cup after a dismal performance in front of a partisan Hampshire crowd crammed in at The Rose Bowl.

The visitors under-performed with both bat and ball, made tactical mistakes galore and were generally second best in all departments as the Hawks restricted them to 113 to win by 64 runs.

Responding to Hampshire’s excellent 177 for three, Kent slumped to 20 for four within five overs and never appeared in the hunt thereafter on a difficult pitch at Hedge End.

The rot set in for Spitfires as early as the second ball when Michael Carberry miscued an attempted pull off James Bruce to go without scoring.

The rangy Chris Tremlett extracted additional bounce from the Pavilion End and that accounted for Alex Loudon as he fenced outside off stump to edge to keeper Nick Pothas in a rare wicket maiden.

Dimitri Mascarenhas replaced Bruce to take two wickets in as many balls including the vital scalp of Andrew Symonds for a five-ball duck.

Down the pitch to drive straight Symonds tugged slightly across the line to allow Bruce to run back at mid-on and claim a fine catch.

The batsmen crossed so it was James Tredwell on 10 who faced the next ball which he edged to Pothas, who was this time stood up tot he stumps.

Kent’s fifth wicket pair of Rob Key and Matt Walker rebuilt somewhat, as they had in Kent’s last two cup ties, but their partnership ended on 39 with the dismissal of Key for 13 – and Kent’s cup hopes went with him.

Aiming for six over mid-wicket against Mascarenhas, Key got the ball too high on the bat and merely spooned the ball out to Shane Watson running in off the ropes.

After a couple of big hits Niall O’Brien (11) miscued to see Bruce pull off another stunning catch on the run, then top-scorer Walker (38) off-drove straight into the hands of Billy Taylor as Kent lost four wickets in the space of two overs.

Shaun Udal finished with two for 24 and Mascarenhas three for 20 as Kent again failed to make it through the qualifying stages.

Earlier, stocky Australian Watson entertained a record Rose Bowl crowd of 9,000 with a fine display of hitting in an unbeaten 97 as Hampshire posted a Twenty20 best for the ground after being invited to bat.

Aided by some slack Kent bowling, the hosts were allowed to add 100 from their last 10 overs on a tricky pitch.

Amjad Khan gave Kent the best of starts to their fielding stint with the wicket of John Crawley with only the second ball of the match.

The former England right-hander aimed to drive but lost his off stump to send Khan into ecstasy.

But Spitfires’ joy was short-lived as home skipper Shaun Udal teamed up with his overseas locum Watson to post their 50 inside six overs.

Spitfires’ skipper Symonds tried to support his bowlers by keeping two slips for the opening five overs, but Khan dropped too short and Ian Butler lost his cool in sending down two no ball beamers in his second over.

That allowed Udal to score 19 from 15 balls for his part in a 61 stand in six overs that ended when Udal sliced a Khan full-toss high to Alex Loudon at cover to make it 62 for two.

Though Symonds and Ben Trott temporarily stemmed the flow of runs Watson, a 23-year-old Queensland team-mate of Symonds, went on to reach his half-century from 43 balls with a six and six fours as the hosts reached 77 for two at the mid-point of their innings.

Watson and fellow Aussie Michael Clarke went on to add 74 in 10 overs before Kent’s next breakthrough.

Rob Ferley’s fourth ball of the night lured Clarke into a big hit but the right-hander from New South Wales obligingly skied to Symonds at mid-wicket to go for 38.

But there was no removing Watson, he took a four and a brace of sixes off James Tredwell’s penultimate over of the innings and was still there at the end with an unbeaten 97 from 68 balls with nine fours and three sixes.

It was more than enough to take Hampshire through to the knock-out stages and they were buoyed further by the news that their skipper Shane Warne would be back for the quarter finals.