Old boy Stevens shows no signs of slowing down for Kent’s cause
DARREN Stevens continues to defy Father Time, and the ageless wonder believes his scintillating start to the season is as good as any in his 20 years of professional cricket.
Kent will look to make it three Specsavers County Championship wins from three when they welcome Derbyshire to Canterbury today, and all-rounder Stevens – who turns 41 before the end of April – is a key reason they’re in that position.
He has scored the thirdmost runs (189) and also taken the second-most wickets (13) of any Division Two player, and produced a devastating match-winning spell of 5-51 to tear through Sussex’s top-order, having already compiled 68 and an unbeaten 71 with the bat, last time out.
And Stevens credits a winter of meticulous preparation for his rolling back of the years.
“It’s definitely up there with my best starts to a season,” said Stevens.
“If I look back on my ten years or so at Kent, we’ve always got off to poor starts, the first few games we have not been quite on it.
“Our preparation this winter – five weeks touring in Antigua and playing some good, hard competitive cricket, getting miles in the legs and time out in the middle, coming back and then having a couple of friendlies and the University game – has been as good as it has been for a long time.
“In the last few games of last year we were outstanding as a unit.
“We’ve been together three or four years, the young lads are senior players now and we all know each other’s games inside out.
“We all know our jobs really well.”
Derbyshire head to the Garden of England looking to build on the positives of a dramatic three-wicket, final-over defeat to Northamptonshire.
Debutant Luis Reece and Billy Godleman put on a county-record opening stand of 333, but they fell just short in new director of cricket Kim Barnett’s first game at the helm.