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Darren Stevens spent the winter expanding his coaching knowledge, but that doesn’t mean the popular all-rounder is thinking of turning his back on playing any time soon.
Stevens spent five months playing and captaining Claremont CC in Cape Town where he also got the chance to pick the brains of former South African batsman Gary Kirsten, the man who coached India to glory in the 2011World Cup.
Stevens, who turns 43 on April 30, explained: “I spent the winter working in Cape Town at Claremont, I played there for the whole winter, captained and did a lot of the coaching.
“Justin Kemp (the former Kent player) was coach early season but they pulled the pin on it unfortunately so I took the reins a little, but my main reason to be out there was working with Gary Kirsten.
“I wanted to pick his brains on coaching and how it’s all done. I’ve just finished my (ECB) level 3 (qualification), I did it here last winter and I just finished it off recently.
“What I’ve done this winter is a lot of one on ones, a lot of group coaching and a lot of master classes. Coaching is definitely something I’m thinking about down the line.”
Stevens – who made his first-class debut in 1997 – is about to embark on his 15th season with Kent and he has worked hard during the close season to make sure he is in the best possible shape.
He remains determined to play in all three formats, having been completely overlooked by Kent last summer in the T20 – a competition in which he holds the county’s appearance record (158 matches) and only needs one more wicket to reach a century for the club. Only James Tredwell, with 119 wickets, has taken more for Kent.
The former Leicestershire man is also only 10 matches away from completing 300 first class games and needs 37 wickets to reach 500 first-class career victims.
Stevens, who took 42 wickets in 11 championship appearances last summer, said: “I went away and worked with a personal trainer three times a week through five months. The club wanted me to lose a lot more weight, but I sat down with this guy who is an ex-rugby player for South Africa and he was like I’m not bothered about your weight it’s about your strength.
“We worked more on strengthening up certain areas like my back, buttocks and legs. I’ve lost about 5 kilos but I’ve put on more muscle in certain areas. I’ve not gone stupid, with the upper body and all that. It’s more my legs, my core and my back I’ve worked on. I want to play every game without a doubt. I can’t be sitting around.
“If somebody says to you we don’t want to play you in this comp because we want to rest you it doesn’t work with me because it probably sets me back. I need to keep playing so I’ll be fighting for every spot.
“I’ve been playing every weekend for the last 20 weeks with three weeks off over Christmas so I’ve been ticking over. I feel good, the ball’s coming out nice – I’m flying, batting wise I feel great.”
Stevens, who has clocked up 809 games in all formats, is on a deal which runs out at the end of the season but he fully expects to discuss a new contract if his form and fitness hold up.
He said: “Judge me on performances that’s what I say to the hierarchy when we talk through the summers – the last four or five years we’ve sat down in June to decide if I was going to carry on or not and fortunately for myself we’ve carried on.
“It will be the same this year, we’ll have a chat in June and as long as my body’s holding up, I’m enjoying it and I’m doing my job then I can’t see why we would not talk about another year.”
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