Skipper Rob Key pulled no punches after Kent’s six-wicket defeat at the hands of Warwickshire in the semi-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup at Edgbaston on Thursday night.

Key won the toss and chose to bat first, but the Spitfires fell well below a par target on a fine track and were eventually comfortably beaten.

The opener admitted: “We were very poor with the bat, I thought it was a fantastic pitch, there was something in it for everyone - a brilliant one-day wicket.

“But what did we have? 20, 20, 30, 3 – it’s shocking really, that sort of scorecard.”

Speaking on Sky Sports, Key paid tribute to the Bears, who booked a Lord’s date with either Notts or Durham on September 20, and admitted his side were at least 50 runs short of a defendable target.

He said: “Credit to them, Boyd Rankin came on when we just wanted to kick on. He bowled brilliantly and Jeetan Patel I think is a fantastic spinner but we gifted wickets, myself, quite a few of us… we made it too easy.

“I still think 270 and you’re right in the game.”

A swashbuckling 40 not out from Sam Billings was the lone high, with the keeper one of a host of under-25s in the Kent lineup.

Key admitted: “We have got a young team but I always hate it when captains come up and say we’ve got a young team and whatever….

“Actually I think we have got some fantastic players, whether they are 12, 35 or whatever, we just weren’t good enough on the day.”