Claydon reaches milestone

Mitch Claydon racked up his 100th First Class appearance and 50th for Kent, against his former club Durham this week. The Australian-born 34-yearold has been with Kent for more than four years and established himself in all formats having enjoyed a two-year stint at Yorkshire and then a seven-year stay at the Riverside, where he struggled to cement a first-team place. He said: “If you’d have told me at the age of 22 that I’d play 100 first class matches, I’d have bitten your hand off. “I had a few injuries when I was at Yorkshire and I didn’t play as much as I’d like at Durham but the bowling lineup was so strong if you played eight or 10 games a year you’d done well. “In my early years there, I worked with Ottis Gibson, Paul Collingwood and Steve Harmison and learned a lot from them. Following that, we had Liam Plunkett, Graham Onions and the likes of Mark Davies and Chris Rushworth, so the depth was unbelievable. “We were able to select an attack to suit most surfaces and I believe you need a good group of bowlers to win things and that’s what we’re striving for at Kent.” Claydon has taken a total of 268 First Class wickets with 142 of them coming for Kent, where he has taken on the role of mentor to the young crop of seamers. He said: “As one of the older players, I like to help out the younger guys in the squad where I can. It’s tough bowling in first class cricket so you need plenty of options so you can pick an attack according to the conditions.” Claydon started the season in style, taking 10 wickets in two Kent wins before returning home to Australia on compassionate leave after a family bereavement. He said: “I worked my butt off in pre-season and felt good so to be out of action for five weeks was a kick in the teeth. “It’s taken a while to get my rhythm back but I’m getting there and although rain has frustrated us lately, we’re raring to go for the remaining games.” Claydon is joined in the squad by a familiar face as friend and fellow fast-bowler Grant Stewart signed his first professional contract at Kent last month. He said: “It’s a fantastic story as Grant started out as a legspinner and even kept wicket when he was younger. He came here in 2015 to play club cricket initially and then realised he could play county cricket as his mum’s Italian and he holds an EU passport.”