Darren Stevens says that he could not turn down the chance to play for Derbyshire in the Vitality Blast, and is determined to produce his best form for the Falcons.
Stevens joined Derbyshire on-loan from Kent for the the competition, after being told that he would not feature in Twenty20 cricket by his parent club.
Despite the recent announcement that Stevens will be leaving Kent at the end of the season after almost a decade-and-a-half, he says that helping Derbyshire to results is more important to him than anything else.
“I suppose the bigger picture is this is a bit of a shop window but in my head it’s not and I’m trying not to think about it like that. I want to win games of cricket for Derbyshire in T20,” said Stevens.
“My body has been really good this year, I feel like I’m doing my job. In the championship I’ve got 30 wickets, a couple of five-fers in the last two games for Kent and personally I feel like I’ve still got a lot to give. I want to do another year at least.”
The experienced all-rounder has previously spoken about his love of Twenty20 cricket, and he had no intention of missing out on the shortest format for another summer, after not featuring in last season’s Vitality Blast, with the chance to join up with Derbyshire an attractive one for Stevens.
“I was told (by Kent) I wasn’t going to be involved in the Twenty20s so I thought what am I going to do for six weeks?” he added.
“I could have had a break but I learned from last year when I had four weeks off. I know my body and I need to keep playing and ticking over so I asked to go on loan but they wouldn’t let me, but this year I’m out of contract so they said they would let me go.
“I put my name on a loan sheet and Dave Houghton rang me the next day and said, ‘How do you fancy a loan stint at Derbyshire for the T20s’ and I snapped his hand off.”
Vitality Blast is back! Derbyshire host a hat-trick of Twenty20 matches at The Pattonair County Ground in August. Buy in advance to save. Call 01332 388 101 or buy online.
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