ESSEX are out of this year's Twenty20 competition following an occasionally controversial defeat to Kent at the County Ground tonight.

The pivotal moment came when Scott Styris caught Kent's Darren Stevens when a stooping catch at a key moment in their opening innings.

Stevens questioned whether the ball had carried and a television review went in his favour.

He went on to make a decisive 41 to leave Kent on 183 from their 20 overs.

Stevens then rubbed it in by taking four wickets during a blistering spell which helped restrict the Eagles to 168-9 in reply.

Essex won the toss and put the visitors in to bat. And, after a relatively uneventful power play, Ravi Bopara dismissed veteran Rob Key with a ball which removed his middle wicket to make it 49-1.

There was a moment of controversy at 73-1 as Kent dangerman Azhar Mahmood looked certain to be run-out, only for the ball to hit him as he scampered back into his crease. He got away with it after the umpire ruled it an accident.

And Essex were not helping their cause with some sloppy fielding from players who looked to be feeling the pressure of the occasion.

But Kiwi import Tim Southee got Mahmood (31) with the visitors on 95 with a ball which caught the under-edge of the bat en route to the middle stump, And the needle continued as Darren Stevens called for a television review of Scott Styris’ catch off a delivery from Bopara. Stevens survived after the review concluded the ball had touched down, and Styris was left fuming.

After that Kent held together a decent innings and Essex had to wait until the end of the 17th over for their next wicket as Joe Denly was by Tim Phillips off Ryan ten Doeschate with the score at 149-3.

And Stevens rubbed in his earlier reprieve as he made 41 to leave Kent on 183-3.

Essex got off to a poor start in reply with Mark Pettini bowled for seven by Mahmood.

And it was that man Stevens who struck again as he had Adam Wheater (27) stumped after teasing him down the wicket to leave the hosts on 49-2 in the seventh over.

Essex were ticking along nicely at 68-2 when Owais Shah took an ill-advised side-step allowing Stevens' delivery to remove his stumps.

And Stevens continued his memorable night by bowling and catching Ravi Bopara on 11.

And Stevens picked up another as he clean bowled Ryan ten Doeschate on three with an excellent ball which nipped back.

It soon left Essex with a required run rate of 15 an over and the packed Chelmsford crowd fell nervously quiet as the Kent bowlers stiffled the batsman with a series of yorkers.

And when skipper James Foster's stump was left on the deck following a full toss from Wahab Riaz it looked all over bar the shouting.

Essex's last chance of winning then came to the crease in the form of Graham Napier, who played despite pre-match doubts over his fitness.

Napier scored a typically swashbukling 26, but it was not enough as Essex missed out on a place in this year's quarter-finals.

Essex: Pettini, Wheater, Shah, Bopara, ten Doeschate, Styris, Foster, Napier, Southee, Phillips, Masters.