Kent Spitfires suffered a seven-wicket T20 Blast defeat to Gloucestershire in Canterbury in front of the television cameras on Wednesday evening.

Harry Finch led the way in their 157-9 with 42 and although Adam Hollioake’s team fought back after an unusual delay - sun stopping play - Gloucestershire collected their first T20 South Group triumph at the sixth attempt as they beat Kent by seven wickets.

Tawanda Muyeye had struck two boundaries off Josh Shaw’s (2-30) first over in a start that saw the home side move to 16-0 from two overs.

But Daniel Bell-Drummond went for three when he pulled Ajeet Singh Dale (3-24) to Ollie Price at mid-wicket.

Finch, 30, stepped out at No.3 and sent Matt Taylor (2-36) for consecutive leg-side fours as Kent moved to 41-1 from five overs.

Muyeye had again set the tone, only to find Australian D’Arcy Short on the leg-side boundary off Singh Dale’s bowling to go for 33.

Gloucestershire had already used six different bowlers by the halfway stage. But the hosts found a bit of impetus when Sam Billings and Finch switch-hit/reverse-swept Price (0-12) to the boundary as they moved to 81-2.

Billings drove spinner Graeme van Buuren (0-23) pleasantly to bring up Kent’s 100 and the 50-run partnership between the home duo to conclude their 13th over.

While 118-2 after 15 overs represented a reasonable run-rate, the lack of a six by this stage and some 11 leg-byes also showed why the home team had never fully looked in command.

Indeed, they lost Billings, 34, for 38 off 32 balls as Shaw took out his off-stump.

Joey Evison then picked out van Buuren from the excellent Singh Dale’s bowling for two, with Kent 131-4 after 17 overs.

Jack Leaning drilled his second ball for the hosts’ sole six from Taylor but Finch went, attempting to follow suit for 42 - shy of his career-high T20 score of 47.

He was excellently caught by Miles Hammond, who parried the ball back into play as he went over the leg-side boundary, before Australian Tom Rogers was dismissed for a golden duck. Rogers was the victim of a sharp grab by Ben Charlesworth.

That left Grant Stewart to face a hat-trick ball for the second match in a row, which he took a single off.

But the Italian international all-rounder promptly found Taylor from Shaw’s bowling.

The pressure was now firmly on Leaning to get Spitfires to a competitive score, although consecutive Leaning fours helped them move to 151-7 ahead of the last over.

But 31-year-old Leaning was bowled by the economical David Payne (1-18) for a quickfire 18 off the second ball of the over and Fred Klaassen was run-out from the next delivery, trying to scramble a single to Australian wicketkeeper Cameron Bancroft.

Kent did at least fulfil their allocation as Australian Wes Agar blasted the penultimate ball to the ropes.

The away side endured a similarly sedate start to their run-chase but two leg-side fours from Short off Dutch bowler Klaassen (0-30) helped them to 23-0 from three overs.

Strangely, there was a stoppage in play at 8.15pm due to low sunlight, which led to the players heading off the field - to a fair bit of amusement - after Short had hooked Agar (0-36) for a leg-side maximum.

But the players weren’t off for long and play resumed after an eight-minute delay before Hammond launched a massive leg-side six in the same Agar over.

Leaning’s spin (0-9) was introduced in the fifth over, although he went for nine to leave the away side 45-0 and well ahead of the required run-rate.

Kent were in desperate need of a wicket and got one when Short skied Rogers (1-30) high into the air and wicketkeeper Billings held his nerve to take a catch to dismiss the 34-year-old for 33 off 21 balls.

That left Gloucestershire 54-1 at the end of their powerplay after another Hammond four.

But in the next over, Bancroft fell for three. He was caught by a sprawling Billings off Evison’s bowling (1-28).

Spitfires had firmly fought their way back into the game by now, with Rogers taking a good catch at long-off from Matt Parkinson’s bowling (1-27) to go for 25 from 19 balls in the eighth over.

It meant the match had been evenly-poised at the halfway mark of Gloucestershire’s run-chase, with the visitors 76-3.

Home delight then soon soured shortly after when 28-year-old Agar castled Price off a no-ball in what looked a marginal call, with Price getting another life in the 12th over when Parkinson dropped a caught-and-bowled attempt.

At the other end, visiting captain Jack Taylor took 13 from the last three balls of the 13th over, which included a maximum to bring up their 100.

And Gloucestershire were seemingly back in the box-seat again at 123-3 with five overs to play and 35 runs needed.

That required run-rate went under a run-a-ball for the first time after another productive over off Klaassen for Price and Jack Taylor.

With the victory line in sight for the defending champions, Jack Taylor brought up his half-century from 35 balls at the end of the 18th over to leave just three runs required from two overs for their win.

Jack Taylor sent them across the line with a boundary to fine-leg with 10 balls to spare.

He ended 54 not out in the 98-run stand while Price was unbeaten on 41.

Head coach Hollioake reflected: “It was disappointing.

“That was probably our worst performance so far in this T20 (group), straight off the back of our best one, beating the previously unbeaten side in the competition at their home ground.

“To come here and play the side that are bottom, albeit they won it last year, we just didn’t quite get it right tonight.

“We were probably 10 or 15 runs light and then we didn’t really get it right with the ball, either, so it was just a bit of a lacklustre display. I don’t know if we were a bit tired or just a bit off the pace.

“But we just weren’t right.”

Spitfires skipper Billings won the toss and batted first, making one change from last Sunday’s four-run victory at Somerset as Parkinson replaced fast bowler Nathan Gilchrist.

Kent, on 14 points with three wins and a no-result from seven fixtures, will face Essex at Chelmsford in the Blast on Friday evening.