Darren Stevens hopes Kent’s Royal London One-Day Cup final this weekend is not his last match for the side.

The popular all-rounder has played an integral part in their successful one-day cup campaign this summer.

The 46-year-old - who is set to depart Kent at the end of the season - has not played a County Championship game since May.

With just two more red-ball fixtures to come this year, the showdown at Trent Bridge could be his Kent swansong after a glittering spell in Canterbury.

But Stevens said: “I hope not. There’s always still a chance and hope.

“I came in and bowled for 40 minutes or so at Jack Leaning on Monday with a red ball and I’ll probably do the same for the rest of the week, just in case there’s a slim chance of me playing next week down at Hampshire. My name’s in the hat.

“I have told them [Kent’s management team] I still want to get picked. Fingers crossed I’ll get picked but, if not, let’s just try and get the win on Saturday.”

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Stevens has twice won the T20 Blast competition at Kent, first in 2007 and again last year, and will now get the opportunity to help the Spitfires claim a 50-over tournament success.

The cup competition - which has had various different guises over the years - hasn’t been won by Kent since 1974.

“It would be unbelievable," said Stevens. "Winning trophies is our job, isn’t it? We are professional cricketers and our job is to win games of cricket to put us into contention to win trophies.

“Winning in 2007 was amazing - although I’d only been at the club a couple of years. We had only won one Blast title, and then doing that again last year was phenomenal.

“But I think the one that will haunt me is not winning the County Championship with Kent. I was involved - I didn’t play - but I was involved in 1996 and 1998 at Leicestershire in the squad there.

“That was amazing to be around. You just dream of being a match-winning player that gets you a trophy like that but that never came.

“But winning trophies is the key. Walking away with two, I’d be happy.

"But walking away with a third on Saturday, that would be amazing.”

Stevens says he is happier than most this year’s final is at Trent Bridge, saying: “I’m glad it’s at Trent Bridge because I have played four finals at Lord’s and lost all four!”

In their semi-final success against Hampshire, Stevens struck a 65-ball 84 not out but he will be perfectly content with playing less of a role against final opponent Lancashire this time around.

“Hopefully, I don’t get in and we knock them off!" he said.

“But it would be a fairytale finish, wouldn’t it? A couple of wickets with the ball and 60 or 70 not out would be amazing.”

Kent reached the final in 2018 when they lost to Hampshire.

Comparing the class of 2018 and the class of 2022, Stevens said: “There’s a few new faces, although there’s still an old guard there.

“We’ve just found a way this year. Ben Compton has probably been the most consistent, then Ollie Robinson, but there’s not one person that has stood out. It’s not been the same person each game that’s won us the game and got us over the line, it’s been different people doing different bits.

“When you do get off to a slow start, win a game, lose a few and then lose another, it then is knock-out cricket. You just go with the flow.

“The big chat was ‘Don’t let your mate next to you win the game, you win the game’ and that’s sort of how it’s been all the way through. It’s been nice.

“Momentum has changed now and we are going into the game in good form.”

With the Royal London One-Day Cup now clashing with the newly-formed Hundred competition, the standard of the former competition is not as strong in some peoples’ eyes.

But Stevens said: “You obviously lose a few players to The Hundred.

“I’d say Hampshire are probably the youngest group on the circuit but they still have got three or four senior players in there. They pigeon-holed it a few years ago as ‘The second-team one-day cup’ but I think that’s poor, I think that’s wrong.

“There’s a lot of good cricket. It has given opportunities to youngsters coming through.

“One bloke, Tom Prest, at Hampshire has shone and he’s a good player. There’s a couple of other good young players hanging around who have been given their chance but I think it’s better than people have been making out.”

Ahead of the final, Stevens says there is both excitement but also an air of calmness in Kent’s camp.

“It’s another trophy to fight for," he said. "There’s a lot of excitement, a lot of calmness though.

“Calm has been the word over the last probably five or six games, we have been a calm team, and we have performed.

“There’s a lot of excitement but obviously there will be nerves deep down.”