Chris Adams paid tribute to the fighting qualities of his players after they came within a whisker of pulling off an against the odds victory in their opening Twenty20 Cup match at Canterbury.

Sussex looked dead and buried after being bowled out for 137 and then watching Kent cruise to 92-1 with seven overs remaining.

Some inspired bowling near the end from Luke Wright, Dwayne Smith and Corey Collymore took the game into the final over and the Spitfires only edge over the winning line with a ball to spare.

Adams said: "I am proud of the boys. We didn't play our best cricket but we fought hard all the way and I have seen enough on that performance to suggest we will do well in this competition.

"We got off to a poor start with the bat and didn't finish the innings well either but some of the bowling was fantastic and if we can raise our game by five or ten per cent we'll do okay.

"Obviously it would have been nice to start with a win but losing is not a disaster. There is a lot of cricket to play yet in this competition and Kent are a good side so I'm confident we can bounce back."

The fact the result was still in doubt with two balls to go is a tribute to Sussex's never say die attitude.

The Shark got off to the worst possible start as they lost both Wright and Matt Prior in the second over during a blistering opening spell by former Hove team-mate Yasir Arafat.

Adams started to repair the damage, first with Murray Goodwin and then in a hard-hitting 65 run partnership with Dwayne Smith.

Smith came with a reputation for big-hitting and after a tentative start he proved it with two massive sixes before becoming the fourth man out with the score on 92.

Adams was in even more aggressive mood but, after blasting Ryan McLaren for two fours and a six in one over, he holed out to Justin Kemp on the boundary for 57 off just 37 balls.

The score was 111-5 at that point with six overs to go but it was all downhill from there and a total of 137 never looked enough.

That feeling grew as Rob Key and Joe Denly put on 68 for the first wicket in good time and although they never really got ahead of the run rate the Spitfires were always favourites due to wickets in hand.

Dwayne Smith gave Sussex hope with two quick wickets and suddenly Kent were 111-3 with only three overs to go and the darkness descending.

Darren Stevens had to retire hurt after being hit on the helmet which brought Azhar Mahmood to the crease and he hit 19 off ten balls to swing things back in Kent's direction.

But even with the Spitfires needing just four from the final over there was still drama to come. Corey Collymore bowled Denly for 50 and with two balls to go Kent were two runs short.

Matt Prior made the decision to stand up to the stumps and it backfired as the ball raced to the boundary for four byes to give Kent victory.

Adams added: "I think Luke hitting Darren Stevens on the helmet swung the game back to them because the last thing you want to see in that situation is Azhar Mahmood coming out to bat.

"Credit must go to Kent because they had to bat in ordinary conditions at the end but I think we lost this game with our batting rather than them winning it."