Darren Stevens is vowing to keep giving his all for Kent as he aims to bring his 17-year spell with the club to an end on a high.

All-rounder Stevens will return to his old stomping ground tomorrow when the Spitfires visit Leicestershire for their Royal London One-Day Cup quarter-final.

It comes after Kent won back-to-back encounters at The Spitfire Ground in Canterbury against Yorkshire and Lancashire in tense fashion to edge into the knock-out stages, finishing third in their group.

Stevens will leave Kent at the end of this season but he isn’t ready to hang up his boots yet at the age of 46 and, in the meantime, he’s focused on still delivering for Kent.

“My job is to get runs, take wickets and win games for Kent,” he said.

“So that’s what I’ll do until I finish.”

The Spitfires were knocked out in the group stages as they failed to defend their T20 Blast title.

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But in the 50-over format, Kent have won three of their last four matches, with the other encounter being abandoned without a ball being bowled.

All-rounder Grant Stewart hit a last-ball six to give the Spitfires a three-wicket win over Yorkshire last Friday before they won in the last over again against Lancashire on Tuesday at the same venue, Harry Podmore crashing the penultimate ball to the ropes to seal the win.

After a poor start against Lancashire, Stevens shared a 105-run partnership with Alex Blake (81) as Kent recovered from 53-4 to win, chasing down 296 for victory.

Stevens said: “Everybody knows that momentum is key, isn’t it?

“There is a nice buzz around the changing room now and, hopefully, we can take that on to Leicestershire, on to the semi and on to the final, which will give the boys a lot of confidence for the last three County Championship games which are going to be crucial.”

Stevens was out for 49, chipping the ball straight back to spinner Steven Croft just short of a half-century.

On the three sixes he had struck on his way to his score, he said: “I enjoyed them a lot. It’s sad times isn’t it, my last [one-day] game at Kent.

“But it was good to be out there, it’s just a shame I didn’t go on and win the game like I would have liked.”

Asked what it was like out in the middle for the final time in a one-day match at Canterbury, playing for Kent, he replied: “There might have been a few more vocals out there.

“The crowd was pretty buzzy and loud.”

While Kent have lost head coach Matt Walker, captain Sam Billings, Jordan Cox, Matt Milnes, Jack Leaning and Daniel Bell-Drummond to The Hundred, with Zak Crawley still in the England side, their squad does still appear to be a strong one.

“There’s a lot of talent in that team - a lot of character,” said Stevens.

“Unfortunately in the T20, the momentum was going the wrong way.

“Now, we have got the momentum going back in the right direction and, fingers crossed, we can kick on.”

Stevens joined Kent ahead of the 2005 campaign from Leicestershire - a club he will now return to face as the Spitfires come up against former Kent wicketkeeper Paul Nixon, Leicestershire’s head coach.

“You couldn’t have written it, could you? They are a decent side, they are through as well obviously,” added Stevens.

“We have not played white-ball cricket there for a long time.

“We will do our work over the next few days to figure out how we are going to play it, but we are looking forward to it.”

Stevens also explained how he had come to be put into the Big Bash draft ahead of the first draft this Sunday ahead of the competition in Australia.

He said: “That was my agent who put me in for that! He called and said I’ve put you in!

“I was like, ‘Yeah great, cheers’. I think he’s put me in for everything, but why not?

“I still want to play. It’d be good, wouldn’t it?

"It’d be a good way to go out.”