Darren Stevens ends his 17 seasons with Kent as a One-Day Cup Champions:
Kent ended an extensive run of defeats in one-day finals as they beat Lancashire at Trent Bridge on Saturday to win the One-Day Cup in what could be veteran all-rounder Darren Stevens’ last appearance in English County Cricket.
The 46-year-old Darren Stevens is being released by Kent toward the end of the season, in spite of the fact that he still harbours any desire for a transition to another county.
Stevens made an unbeaten 33 in Kent’s 306-6, having been welcomed with a standing applause from the crowd.
Kent then defended that total by dismissing Lancashire for 285 to win by 21 runs and end a succession of eight consecutive losses in one-day finals since the club lifted the now defunct Benson and Hedges Cup back in 1978.
While there was a lot of thoughtful praise for Stevens, uncapped by England regardless of a prolific career at county level that began with Leicestershire in 1997, it was a player at the other end of the age range who was the star of the show on Saturday.
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Joey Evison, a 20-year-old all-rounder playing on what is still his home ground in front of his super durable move from Nottinghamshire to Kent next season, scored a splendid 97 and took 2-34.
Former England batter Joe Denly supported Evison’s endeavours with an innings of 78 from only 69 balls before the Kent new-ball duo of Grant Stewart and Nathan Gilchrist took three wickets each.
Lancashire skipper Keaton Jennings and experienced all-rounder Steven Croft both made 72, but their efforts were sufficiently inadequate to give the Red Rose a twelfth one-day final triumph.
