My All-Time Kent T20 XI: Darren Stevens

Nobody has played more matches for the Kent Spitfires in Twenty20 cricket than Darren Stevens.

‘Stevo’ has been there and done it – a Twenty20 Cup winner in 2007 & Vitality Blast champion in 2021, a four-time Finals Day veteran as a Spitfire, and our third highest run-scorer in the format after Joe Denly & Daniel Bell-Drummond.

In his Kent career spanning three decades from 2005-2022, Stevens featured in 173 games of T20 cricket for the Club.

Back in April 2020, we asked ‘Stevo’ to give us his the greatest Kent Spitfires T20 XI consisting only of players that he has played alongside:

1. Rob Key – Captain

“Keysey has a brilliant cricket brain. He was an outstanding opening batter.

“Developing the lap sweep reinvented him as a T20 player!”

2. Joe Denly

“I’d say Joe’s the best T20 opening batters I’ve played with.

“He’s also a brilliant boundary rider with a rocket arm.”

3. Azhar Mahmood

“An absolute legend of the game! New ball, old ball, genius.

“He found his position in the order at three over time and made it his own.”

4. Martin Van Jaarsveld

“A natural pick for a vice-captain of this team.

“He was an exceptional top-order player, and adapted his game brilliantly to all formats.

“Also an amazing fielder, anywhere.”

5. Alex Blake

“One of the most explosive left-handed batters I’ve ever seen.

“I’ve also never seen shots over the off-side quite like the way Alex hits them! He’s also excellent against spin.”

6. Justin Kemp

“A dangerous middle-order batter. He could hit it out of any ground in the world!”

7. Sam Billings – Wicketkeeper

“He definitely gets in, based on his natural ability with the gloves and the bat.

“He plays all the shots.”

8. Ryan McLaren

“What an exceptional all-round cricketer – more than a handy batter.

“He has brilliant skills with the ball and he’s one of the best fielders I’ve ever played with.”

9. Yasir Arafat

“An absolute wizard!

“His new ball skills are outstanding and he was also great bowling at the death.”

10. James Tredwell

“A wiley off-spinner with some great skills in white-ball cricket.

“He was also a very handy left-handed batter and was a brilliant catcher – buckets!”

11. Morné Morkel

“This bloke was one of the main reasons we made it to Finals Day in 2007.

“Raw pace, bounce and a seriously tough bowler to hit around.”

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