Kent suffered their third NatWest T20 Blast defeat in South Group after another dramatic last over finale at Sussex on Friday night.

The Spitfires went down by four wickets with three balls to spare, despite having bowled tightly to try and defend a modest total of 140 all-out with Mitch Claydon claiming a superb 3-25 from four overs.

Despite losing the toss Sam Northeast cracked his 10th T20 half century from 33 balls with four sixes into the heavy Hove sky however the 17 scored by both Daniel Bell-Drummond and Darren Stevens was the second top-score.

Tymal Mills collected 3-15 from his four overs and Chris Jordan a superb 3-18 from his with South African David Wiese collecting 2-33 including the wicket of Northeast, whose 35 run partnership with Sam Billings (10) was the best of the night for the visitors.

Kent were eventually dismissed for 140 with Tredwell (3) falling in the final over and David Griffiths (0) going from the final ball.

Kent made a fine start with the ball as Luke Wright fell to Matt Coles for three and Chris Nash was trapped by Griffiths soon after to leave the Sharks 23-2 in the fifth over.

Ben Brown (26) and Harry Finch (2) fell to Claydon and Stevens respectively to make it 68-4 with 8.2 overs remaining to find the 72 runs required.

The pivotal over of the reply was the 16th, bowled by James Tredwell, with New Zealand international Ross Taylor on strike.

Sharks needed 53 from the final five overs but Taylor took Tredwell for 14 from the first three balls to bring up his half-century and by the end the hosts needed just 36 more.

Taylor then took Claydon over the ropes and with the drizzle falling he and Jordan moved their side to a point where they needed 15 from the final two overs.

Claydon had Taylor caught for a fine 62 from 50 balls, which included four fours and two sixes, and three balls later Jordan (16) was held by Alex Blake with Sussex 10 runs short with eight balls left.

The hosts needed eight from the final over, bowled by Griffiths, but Wiese (10*) brought up the victory with his second straight boundary with three balls to spare.

Coles recorded fine figures of 1-17 from four overs while Tredwell had 0-30 from four.

Kent are back in action on Sunday when they host Glamorgan in the Royal London One-Day Cup (11am).