Opinion: Why Darren Stevens is the Perfect Missing Piece to Glamorgan’s Puzzle

Out of Contract 46-year-old Darren Stevens is looking to continue his career after he was released by Kent at the end of 2022.

After the last 17 years in the south-east representing Kent and eight years at Leicestershire, Stevens’ professional cricketing career looked to be over when he was released at the end of the summer.

However, Stevens announced no intention to retire and even put his name in the hat for the Big Bash in Australia this winter.

As Stevens looks for a new county, many options could potentially be at his disposal.

Glamorgan enjoyed a strong campaign in 2022, finishing comfortably third in County Championship Division Two, missing out on promotion by just nine points. The white ball competitions also saw respectable mid-table finishes.

Despite Glamorgan’s performances in 2022, a number of player departures could lead to an open door for Stevens to close out his career in Cardiff.

With the release of three seam bowlers as well as an all-rounder and the retirement of Welsh legend, Michael Hogan all coming at the same time, replacements are clearly required.

For the most part in red ball in 2022, Hogan opened the bowling with James Harris or overseas star Michael Neser. With the experience and similarity of bowling styles between Hogan and the former Kent player, Stevens would be an appropriate like-for-like replacement.

The 46-year-old’s longevity is not the most impressive feature about his career. Winning Kent’s player of the year five out of his six times after the age of 30 and over 500 wickets of his 878 in his career have come since turning 35.

Stevens’ statistics with the bat are not to be overshadowed by his expertise with the ball. A first-class average of 35 and over 28,000 career runs, he makes for a perfect middle-order option across all formats of the game.

With the release of key member to the One Day Cup team, Joe Cooke, Stevens’ like-for-like all-rounder status would once again fill a vacancy at the Welsh county.

In 2022, Stevens experienced mixed success. With the bat, a first-class average of 45 and 250 runs in his six innings in the One Day Cup stands out. However, with the ball 75 runs per wicket in the red-ball format and no wickets in the One Day Cup winning season for Kent was an abnormal occurrence when compared to his most wickets trophy in the 2020 season and named in Wisden’s cricketer of the year for 2021.

Speaking to BBC Sport Wales, Director of Cricket at Glamorgan, Mark Wallace said: ‘’We're looking to see if there are any players that fit our mould, but if there's nobody there'll be opportunities for players in the squad to develop through the winter and play first-team cricket."

Glamorgan’s seamers currently at the club are limited. James Harris, Michael Neser and Timm van der Gugten are the most notable names to have played part in the County Championship side with the ball last season that remain at the club.

The lack of experience in red ball cricket between Jamie McIlroy, Dan Douthwaite and Andy Gorvin may be forced into action alongside new signing Zain-Ul-Hasan if no additions to the bowling line-up are made over winter.

If Stevens were to make the move, he would be dropping from Division One to Division Two in the County Championship; subject to the ECB high performance review be rejected.

The move would reunite Stevens with former teammate Sam Northeast who enjoyed a successful first season in Wales including a knock of 410 not out against Leicestershire.