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Beyond the Boundary: Kent's Darren Stevens writes exclusively for the KM Group

By: KentOnline reporter multimediadesk@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 08:00, 07 May 2010

Darren Stevens played a starring role as Kent beat Hampshire by eight runs in the Twenty20 Cup, June 22 2009.

It’s been a good start to the season for me with bat and ball in both forms of the game and my hundred against Lancashire was probably my best for the side considering the situation we were in.

In the past with the batters in front of me, I have been fortunate to go in on quite a few occasions when we are 150 or 200-3 but we were four down against Lancashire at Old Trafford.

My mindset when I went in was to attack if there was anything to hit, and take a gamble. Matt Coles came in at 97-7 and played well.

I haven’t scored as many runs as I should have in tight situations like that in the past but in this game we all keep learning.

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I know my game but I’m always trying to better myself in different ways, learning different shots.

I have got in the groove quickly this season but did a lot of hard work in the winter in South Africa.

I trained with the Cobras and played club cricket at the weekend and went to Zimbabwe for a couple of weeks, which was a good experience, although the pitches were not great.

Keysey says he reckons I should have been in the England World Twenty20 squad in the West Indies but the disappointment for me was not making the initial 30-man squad, especially after doing so well last season and winning the Most Valuable Player award in the competition.

Makhaya Ntini has settled in after joining us before the Lancashire game and bowled well. I have only met him briefly once before, in Cape Town during the winter, before we knew he was coming. He is a nice guy but never shuts up.

The Kent dressing room is a quiet place but he has certainly raised the volume. Keysey likes to think he’s the joker and Joe Denly is a bit of a sly one and our physio Nimmo Reid likes playing the odd practical joke. I just sit back and stay out of it.

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When it’s raining we play a bit of poker and I love taking Keysey’s money but I don’t mind the odd snooze before I go out to bat.

We go to Nottinghamshire on Saturday in the Clydesdale Bank 40, and were disappointed Sunday’s game was washed out.

Having come off a loss (against Warwickshire), we wanted to get back into it straightaway and will be looking forward to getting going again at Trent Bridge.

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