Kent lost four wickets in four balls as they collapsed to a 48-run Friends Life t20 defeat to Middlesex at canterbury on Tuesday night.
Joe Denly (90no off 66) came back to haunt his former club as Middlesex piled up 207-2 but Kent looked well-placed to overhaul them on 120-2 when the wheels came well and truly off.
Sam Billings (43 off 29) and Sam Northeast (60 off 43) had put on a quickfire 90 for the first wicket in the Kent reply.
Billings and Darren Stevens (1) fell in quick succession but Kent were still in the game on 120-2 when the extraordinary collapse took place.
Northeast and Azhar Mahmood (13) fell in consecutive balls, Matt Coles picked out Tom Smith off Paul Stirling from his first ball, and then poor Alex Blake was run out without facing a ball.
Kent could only reach 159-7, well short of the Middlesex effort led by Denly, who batted all 20 overs for his 90no.
He and opening partner Stirling, who hit a brilliant 63 off 37 balls, put on 127 in 71 balls.
And there was a terrific cameo from Eoin Morgan, who scored 36 off 18 balls, including three sixes.
