Spinner James Tredwell has told KSN he stepped down from the position of Kent captain for the good of the team.

The 31 year old officially stood down as skipper of the side on Wednesday, just one year after taking over from Rob Key with the opening batsman returning to lead the team for the 2014 season.

Last season proved to be a difficult one for Tredwell, often away on England duty and trying to make decisions about selection over the phone.

After giving it some thought after the season was done and dusted, Tredwell came to the conclusion that it would be best for all concerned that he stood down from being captain:

“I took my time at the end of the season to think what would be best for not only myself, but the team as well. I have got ambitions to play for England as much as I can and last season I was away a lot and that stopped me from really putting my stamp on the side.”

“I’ve no regrets taking over the captaincy as it was something that I’d often thought I’d love to do, but maybe it just came at the wrong time for me with being away so much and maybe it’ll be something that I can come back to in years to come.”

“At the end of the day, I didn’t want to just stay on and be selfish and keep being captain for my own sake. I always had the best interests of the team in the back of my mind and stepping down was probably the hardest decision, but the right one.”

Having become a father for the second time in the past week, Tredwell has found that his time is precious and told KSN that it was also a factor when making his mind up about the captaincy:

“It is hard being away so much, but that’s the life we accept as cricketers. I was conscious that I didn’t want to miss out on family life and when you become captain, you suddenly realise everything that goes into making it a success and even when I was at home, I wasn’t really there as I was always thinking about this and that.”

“Beth and I are delighted to have Samuel in our lives along with Jacob and it will be nice to spend some time with them now without thinking too much about lots of other things.”

“I’ve been keeping busy in the nets though as you just never know when a call up from England might come and I’m hoping that at some point over the winter I will be needed.”

With England likely to rest Graeme Swann for the One Day International series against Australia after the Ashes, Tredwell could once again be called upon to add to his 24 ODI’s and 7 T20 games he’s played so far.

Swann still stands in his way of getting any more than his one Test cap, but Tredwell hasn’t given up hope of playing more five day games for England:

“I have got to keep pushing Swanny as hard as I can. He’s a slightly different spinner to me and you just never know when the call might come. There’s a lot of cricket to be played in the coming eighteen months or so and the selectors might want to give certain players a rest, so I have got to be fit and ready to go if the call up comes.”

To listen to the full press conference from Wednesday, click here: https://soundcloud.com/kent-sports-news/kent-press