Sam Northeast rejected interest from other counties to sign a two-year deal with Kent.

The 23-year-old opener has endured a frustrating season, failing to score a first class century and had scored just 24 runs in six championship innings before his 88 in the second innings helped Kent secure victory against Glamorgan inside three days at Cardiff last week.

Northeast – who had previously opted for one-year deals in the belief that he played better under pressure –admitted: “It’s not necessarily been a great year but we have a lot of younger players and there are good signs for the future.”

He added: “You have an agent for a reason and so there was never any real pressure - we had positive discussions with (chief executive) Jamie Clifford and (chairman of cricket) Graham Johnson.

"There was some interest from elsewhere but it was not significant and staying at Kent was always my first choice.

“I have signed a two-year deal because I want to feel a bit more settled here. I want to give it a bit of a go.”

Northeast is set to return to Australia again in the close-season but not for as long as in previous winters.

He said: “I’ll probably stay here until January, work on a few technical things with Jimmy and Wilko in November, December time.

“I had four or five months out there last winter. I’ll maybe take a bit of a break this year.”