James Tredwell has told KSN that it has been one of the proudest days of his cricketing career taking over the captaincy at Kent.

The 30 year old off spinner was unveiled as the new skipper at a media conference on Monday morning, replacing Rob Key who has decided to step aside after seven years in the job to concentrate on his batting.

Tredwell found out during the middle part of last week that he was to be appointed as Kent’s 32nd county captain, but had to keep the news under wraps until the unveiling on Monday.

Having started his county career at Kent back in 2000, Tredwell is a one club man and has always spoken of his desire to captain the side if the opportunity came along and he told KSN how it was one of the proudest moments of his career being unveiled to the press:

“Having come through the system and having always wanted to be a cricketer, you look to the man at the helm and you want to be in that position.”

“Thankfully, the committee and the club have had the belief in me to offer it to me. It’s a big challenge and hopefully one I can do justice to.”

“I guess you never believe it’s going to come, you always dream of it though. I’ve enjoyed playing under Bob and would have happily carried on doing that, because he has been fantastic for my career and been excellent to play under.”

“It’s a massive job and I must admit I am slightly nervous. I’ve got to find out what it all entails. You see bits and bobs as to what goes on, but I will need to find out quickly!”

“The next few weeks will be a fact finding mission and getting my head around how to do it all.”

Replacing Key is not a small challenge and Tredwell will have big boots to fill, but he was keen to pay tribute to the 31st Kent captain who has lead the side for the past seven years:

“Bob has been great for Kent and I have played a large part of my career under him. We’ve had some real highs and the odd low, but you can’t fault him for wanting the best for Kent at all times.”

“Credit to him for the decision he has made as it can’t have been easy to have stood down, but you have to respect his decision and he has promised he will score lots of runs for the side next season!”

The father of one from Ashford wouldn’t have been every Kent fans natural choice as Key’s replacement, but one thing is for sure, they couldn’t want for someone more committed to the club than Tredwell.

A dedicated family man, Tredwell told KSN how it was with the support of friends and family that he decided to take on the position:

“The family have always been very supportive of my career. Hopefully being captain won’t affect family life too much. A cricket career is a short one and we spoke about the fact that when an opportunity like this comes along, you’ve got to take it.”

“It was hard trying to make sure that the family kept the news under wraps as it was important that Rob had his chance to explain why he was not going to be captain anymore.”

Despite taking on the Kent captaincy, Tredwell admitted that he hadn’t given up on the dream of representing England further and if the call came, he’d jump at the chance of playing for his country again:

“I need to make sure that if I am going to be selected for England, it will be because I am playing well for Kent.”

“It’s a very proud moment for me playing for my country and it is massively important to me.”

Not renowned for being the loudest character in the Kent dressing room, Tredwell is hoping he can bring his own style of leadership to proceedings:

“It’s not just down to me to get the best out of the side. There are plenty of experienced heads in the dressing room and good coaches that will help with all of that.”

“I guess it is my position to be tactically in charge out in the field, give a shoulder to cry on, or occasionally give the odd boot up the backside.”

“I don’t think you need to be overly brash or loud and I certainly won’t be like that. I guess there are going to be times when I will have to take care of things slightly differently, but that’s part of the challenge.”

Last season, wicketkeeper Geraint Jones assumed the mantle of unofficial vice-captain in Key’s absence, but Tredwell admitted it wasn’t necessarily important to have someone named as his number two in charge:

“I don’t think there will be an official committee decision. It will be something that I speak to a lot of people about. There is always the chance I could be away for long spells throughout a season and there’s a chance at times like these that I could get called up at any point, so it will be important to get the right person as they might be at the helm for a period of time.”

One person that had been tipped to replace Key in the long term was Sam Northeast with suggestions the committee had considered him for the captaincy now, with Tredwell saying how the batsman has a bright future at Kent in the long term and he could be groomed as the spinner’s long term successor:

“That’s the decision we need to make as part of having a vice-captain. I wasn’t vice-captain and have taken the helm. Maybe that might well have to be the case for him.”

“He had a very good back end to the year, so he will want to build on that. Whether vice-captaincy or leadership positions will take away from that, it’s all speculation at the moment.”

“There’s various names we could put in the hat and we will see who comes out.”

Luckily for Tredwell, along with Key, he will have a wealth of experience going onto the field next season with the likes of Brendan Nash, Darren Stevens, Mike Powell, Geraint Jones, Mark Davies and Charlie Shreck all players he can turn to.

With that amount of cricketing knowledge with him on the field, Tredwell admits he won’t be short on advice when called upon:

“I think that will be essential for me as it tends to be how I do things. I will ask the opinions of various people before I come to decisions that I may have already come to in my head.”

“They will be invaluable and I will be picking Bob’s brain about how things are done, certainly off the field.”

Working alongside Jimmy Adams is one of the things that appealed to Tredwell when taking on the role and he told KSN how the pair were both quite measured in their approach:

“He’s another man with a huge wealth of knowledge and the programme he has put together in pre-season last year and throughout this year is one that I was excited by.”

“Along with speaking to Jimmy, I need to go away now and speak with all the players as I haven’t really had chance to speak to all of them.”

“Most of them didn’t know, as we wanted to keep a lid on things, so hopefully they are all going to be in support of me!”

There is little fear about that fact, as Tredwell has to be one of the most likeable players on the county circuit.