Kent all-rounder Darren Stevens rates Wednesday night’s thrilling victory over the Sussex Sharks as the best game he’s ever played in.

The 37 year old was in imperious form as he smashed 118 off just 53 balls and brought up his century off just 44 balls to equal the Kent record set by Mark Ealham eighteen years ago.

In a game that had more twists and turns than a stage of the Tour de France, Stevens’ innings was the highlight of the night as the Spitfires successfully chased down 337 to beat the Sharks and make history by breaking the world record of the highest ever successful 40 over run chase.

On the night, it seemed as though Kent had blown their chance of another YB40 win with Luke Wright scoring 115 as the Sharks posted 336 for 5 in their 40 overs, but centuries from Stevens and Sam Northeast took the Spitfires to within reach of their victory target, going on to win with nine balls to spare.

Having lit up the Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence with some explosive hitting, Stevens told KSN how he thought Wednesday night will go down as one of the highlights of his career:

“It’s got to be right up there for me, the world record, the joint quickest hundred for Kent which Ealy will give me a lot of stick about.”

“It was a fabulous night and we’ve got great team spirit and the boys showed a lot of character. Sam Northeast was unbelievable and I played alright myself getting it over the rope a few times!”

“When the boys told me I got my ton in 44 balls, I had no idea, I thought it was about 60 or 70 as I got off to a bit of a slow start. It was definitely my quickest hundred ever!”

Stevens’ majestic innings came to an end on 118 when he went for his eighth six of his innings, but earnt a standing ovation from the Canterbury crowd for his efforts.

Now Stevens is hoping the people of Kent come out for Saturday night’s Twenty 20 game against New Zealand and the T20 campaign beginning next week:

“Hopefully this result kicks us on now and playing New Zealand on Saturday will be a great experience for some of the youngsters with many of them playing.”

“I think there will be some of us senior players playing like myself and Mitch (Claydon) and with a bit of luck it will be a nice starting point for us and our Twenty 20 campaign.”

“With a game like that against Sussex and a half decent crowd in, I’m hoping the fans keep coming as the crowd got behind us even when we were in the field and were getting hit around a bit.”

“I just hope the fans keep supporting us as the boys are working hard. We’ve got a lot of youngsters in our side and they’re trying to get experience. I think we have got a great future here at Kent and I reckon we have got a great chance of doing something in T20 this year.”

Stevens was especially keen to praise Sam Northeast who made his maiden one day century for Kent:

“He was unbelievable and when I came in I told him that I needed to play myself in. He said that was fine and made it easier for me to hit from the other end.”

“When I got in, I hogged a lot of the strike and went past him when we were on about seventy or eighty. I felt for him at that point, but he got stuck in and did what was best for the team.”

“The feeling we will take from this game is something special and at the moment it feels like we have won the final!”

Tickets for Saturday night’s T20 game against New Zealand are on sale now via www.kentcricket.co.uk

Pictures supplied by www.sarahansellphotography.com