Kent captain James Tredwell has paid tribute to all-rounder Darren Stevens who has had the season of his career.

Stevens rightly scooped all four main awards at the club’s Player of the Year night on Friday after a season that has seen him score over 1,800 runs with the bat, take the most wickets and catches for Kent.

With the weight of an ICC tribunal hanging over him, Stevens has shown that he can put that to the back of his mind and play some of the best cricket of his life, ending the season with an unbeaten 205 in the County Championship game against Lancashire and Tredwell has led the tributes for the 37 year old:

“When you have got someone like Stevo in your team, anything can happen. We all know he’s had a pretty tough time of it and I think to be fair to him, it’s helped him focus on his cricket.”

“From after the first two months of the season, he’s been absolutely unbelievable for us and to bowl 48 overs in the game and then go out and bat the way he did is a special effort and you can’t take that away from him.”

“He has been absolutely superb for us this year. His innings against Sussex (in the YB40) was something special and he’s chipped in along the way with wickets. You can’t put a value on him as part of our team.”

“He’s the one guy you look to in the shorter form of cricket that can hit it out of the park, he bowls you the overs you need him to bowl in Championship cricket, he gets you hundreds and catches at slip.”

“It’s probably been the season of his career this year and the troubles he has had had probably helped him focus a bit.”

“We just hope and pray that things go right for him over the winter.”

It’s been an unusual season for Kent as they failed to qualify in either the Twenty 20 or YB40, whilst ending up in the bottom half of Division Two of the County Championship.

With that in mind, Tredwell believes too many draws in the longer form of the game have stopped them from achieving promotion, but reckons the side are heading in the right direction:

“We got eleven draws in the Championship and we have said that if we had turned three of four of them into wins we would have been at the other end of the table.”

“In that regard, it’s not been a drastically bad season and if we’d got a few more wickets here or there it could have been different.”

“We’ve played on some flat wickets that haven’t helped us, but there are plenty of pluses for the season and we’ve got to take it and go into next season being very positive.”

“There is some disappointment as Kent Cricket are not about coming second or third bottom in Division Two. We have got some really good cricketers here and we want to be at the other end of this Division and then be in the other Division.”

“We want to be into semi-finals and progress in other competitions as well. I think in glimpses we have shown that we can beat the best sides.”

“Losing players like Matt Coles isn’t what we want to do. We want to keep people like that at the club, but I feel that was probably the right thing at that point.”

“I think we have signed well and the guys we are bringing in I think will be good for the club. We don’t really know that at this point, but what we’ve got here is good enough to win games of cricket and we need to build the consistency to do that more regularly next year.”

There have been some real positives for Kent this season with three batsmen passing 1,000 County Championship runs and Tredwell is keen to look to the future:

“We’ve had the senior guys get the runs we have needed like Stevo, Nashy and Keysey and they’ve been split up throughout the order which allows you to filter in the new guys in between them and show them how it’s done.”

“Ben Harmison has slotted in well there and done really well after the first few games.”

“The likes of Calum Haggett, Matt Hunn have come in and impressed and the future is very bright. We’ve just got to create the right environment to bring them on and I think that will be a lot of the work we will be looking to do over this winter.”

One of the biggest questions Tredwell has to deal with in the coming weeks is that of his own future and he told KSN how he plans to look at whether it is right for him and the club as to whether he carries on as Kent skipper:

“Not being here doesn’t allow you to put your stamp on the situation as well as you’d like and we’ll have chats to see where that goes.”

“Ultimately as an individual you want to be playing for England and I’ve got to give that the best chance I can. It’s a great honour to be involved at Kent, not only involved, but to lead the boys and hopefully at some stage that will continue.”

“Whether that is next year or in the future, who knows? We’ll see.”

“I’ve found it very tough this year. Whether that can continue next year or not, we’ll have to discuss that in the next week or so and see where we go.”

“I’ve enjoyed it when I’ve been around, but whether it’s the right thing if I’m not around, then we will need to discuss that.”

“It will be a really tough decision as it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I have thoroughly enjoyed it this year, but if I am away with England, I don’t think I can give justice the job deserves.”

“Ultimately it is my decision and I’d like to think the club will want me to continue.”

One of the biggest influences on Tredwell’s decision was the fact he missed out on selection for the Ashes squad and the 31 year old told KSN how he wants to give his international career his best shot:

“I guess the performances I have put in this year in terms of numbers haven’t helped me get selected, but who’s to say that something might happen in the next few weeks and get a late call up like I have over several winters before.”

“With a lot of cricket over the post Christmas period, that’s a massive planning phase for here and if I’m going to away, it poses questions for me whether it is the right thing for us as a group.”

“That’s why I took on the job in the first place as I want to give my all for Kent and make sure we are moving forward.”

“Hopefully I will be involved in some way, shape or form over the winter months and hopefully I can do that justice. If I am do to it justice, I need to give it my full attention.”

“If I can combine it with being Kent captain, then fair enough. I would love for that to continue, but I have found it tough this year and we’ll see where it goes from here.”

“We’ve got a second child due in the middle of November and I’ll have a few weeks off cricket, but I need to stay on top of my game just in case anything does happen in Australia.”

“There might be a couple of injuries and you never know, you might get a call. I need to make sure I am decent touch throughout the winter and going into next year.”

Tredwell has already spoken to the England management about the situation at Kent and is expected to make an announcement about his future sooner rather than later and it’ll come as no surprise to Kent fans if he stands down to pursue his international career.

However, KSN understands Tredwell would consider taking up the position of Kent captain again in the future if he believes it’s not right to carry on next season.

Main pictures supplied by www.sarahansellphotography.com