Claydon on the verge of a landmark

Mitch Claydon has been on the Kent staff for more than four years and at 34, has become a firm fixture across all formats.

The Australian-born fast bowler worked for an estate agency before signing a two-year contract with Yorkshire in 2005 which led to a move to Durham.

After three County Championship titles in seven years at The Riverside Ground, he moved to Kent permanently in 2014 and is one match shy of a century of red-ball appearances in his career.

The well-built fast bowler 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 8 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.”

He has taken a total of 268 first class wickets with most of them (142) coming in his 49 matches for Kent.

With several young seamers on the Kent books, Claydon relishes his role as a mentor.

“As one of the older players, I like to help out the younger guys in the squad where I can.

“It’s very tough bowling in first class cricket so you need plenty of options so you can pick an attack according to the conditions.”

He started the season in style, taking ten wickets in two comprehensive Kent wins before returning home to Australia on compassionate leave after a family bereavement.

“I worked my butt off in pre-season and felt really 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 will be joined by a familiar face in the ranks as friend and fellow fast bowler Grant Stewart signed his first professional contract at Kent last month.

“It’s a fantastic story as Grant started out as a leg-spinner 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.

“He’s worked really hard on his game and earned his opportunity like Sean Dickson did a couple of years ago.

“He’s a good cricketer already and I think the most exciting thing is he’s not worked with professional players and coaches for long so there’s still lots he can learn and improve.”