As well as Leicestershire, with whom he started his professional career, and Kent, where he played for 18 seasons, Stevens featured for the England Lions side, played in Zimbabwe for Mid West Rhinos and in New Zealand for Otago and won the Bangladesh Premier League with both Dhaka Gladiators and Comilla Victorians.

Born in Leicester, Stevens played club cricket for local teams Swallows Green and Hinckley Town prior to making his first-class debut for his home county of Leicestershire in 1997.

[10] However a week later he injured a groin muscle whilst top-scoring in Kent's victory over Durham[11] and did not bowl for the rest of the season.

He played for Mid West Rhinos in the 2009–10 Stanbic Bank 20 Series in Zimbabwe and for Otago in New Zealand during the 2010–11 season.

[12][13][14] Though his career began slowly with only four County Championship appearances between 1997 and 1999, Stevens made his mark with a century against Sussex which attracted the attention of former England batsman Colin Cowdrey.

With the departure of several leading batsmen, Stevens secured a regular county place with Leicestershire and was taken on development tours of Australia in 2003.

By 2012 he was a prolific scorer in the Championship and in Twenty20 and one-day cup competitions, where his attacking stroke-play and wicket-taking bowling cemented his place in the Kent middle order and made "Stevo" a firm crowd favourite.

[15] In August 2013, Stevens was charged by the ICC for failing to report two corrupt approaches in connection to games in the BPL.

[28] His performances, however, led to the decision being reversed and a new contract was offered to Stevens after he made his highest first-class score of 237, at more than a run a ball, against Yorkshire in September at the age of 43.