LONDON: Matt Coles took the first hat-trick of this summer's T20 Blast but ended up on the losing side as Middlesex beat Kent by 16 runs.
The seamer had James Franklin and John Simpson both caught at long-on, and then bowled Tim Southee in the final over of Middlesex's 179-8.
His final-over heroics saw him become the third Kent bowler to take a T20 hat-trick, following on from Ryan McLaren in 2007 and Wahab Riaz in 2011, as he finished with 4-32.
Brendon McCullum smashed six sixes in his 51-ball 88 for Middlesex before Kent stumbled to 163-8.
Former New Zealand captain McCullum had only scored 36 in his previous four innings for Middlesex this summer and made the most of being dropped by Kent captain Sam Northeast on 19.
He brought up his half-century in 30 balls and also struck nine fours before he was bowled by Calum Haggett.
Elsewhere, Leicestershire won at Durham while Sussex beat Hampshire. Leicestershire made it four wins from four to stay top of the North Group with an impressive 27-run victory over Durham.
English county scores on Thursday:
TWENTY20 BLAST
* At Durham: Leicestershire 144-8 (P Collingwood 4-24) v Durham 117-8
Leicestershire bt Durham by 27 runs
* At Southampton: Hampshire 126-9 (T Alsop 64, J Archer 4-18) v Sussex 127-4
Sussex bt Hampshire by 6 wkts
* At Richmond: Middlesex 179-8 (B McCullum 88, M Coles 4-32) v Kent 163-8 (S Northeast 59, J Neesham 52)
Middlesex bt Kent by 16 runs.
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