Kent have appointed Daniel Bell-Drummond as club captain, succeeding Sam Billings in the role – although Billings will continue to lead the T20 side.

Bell-Drummond, 30, came through the Kent academy and has made 369 appearances for the club across formats, captaining the side on a number of occasions in Billings’ absence. Last season, he made a career-best 300 not out against Northamptonshire, helping to set up one of Kent’s two wins as they narrowly survived in Division One of the LV= Insurance County Championship.

Bell-Drummond will captain the side in Championship, with the 50-over leadership likely to depend on availability around the Hundred.

“I’ve been a Kent cricketer since I was seven years old; I love the club,” Bell-Drummond said. “It’s now my job, alongside the rest of the playing squad, to take Kent Cricket forward into a new season as captain and it’s a challenge that I’m looking forward to.

“I’m looking forward to working with Simon Cook and Matt Walker, shaping this team into being competitive on all fronts, but also making sure that this ethos spreads down to our age group squads, with help from our fantastic pathway coaches.

“I’d like to thank Sam Billings for his six years of excellent club captaincy, and, of course, I’ll be working closely with Sam as he remains one of the leaders in the dressing room. This is a team sport, and everyone will have a role to play.

“To the Kent members and supporters – we’ll both be experiencing good times and I’m sure some tough times, but we will be going through it all together. We’ll be looking to hit the ground running for 2024 and that will begin with pre-season training in the New Year. Before we all know it, it’ll be April and time once again to wear the Kent shirt with pride.”

Billings announced he was giving up the club captaincy last week, after a difficult summer in red-ball cricket during which he averaged 9.20 with the bat. However, he will remain Kent T20 captain, having led the club to the Blast title in 2021, saying it would “be great to work in partnership” with Bell-Drummond.

Simon Cook, Kent’s director of cricket, added: “We’re delighted to appoint Daniel as our club captain. He is one of the real leaders in the dressing room and has shown time and time again to be one of our marquee players – with excellent performances with the bat and also being a part of the senior leadership group of the team.

“He has led by example when called upon whether as captain or as a senior player when it has been needed, and I have complete confidence in Daniel to be a big contributor in how we want to move forward, playing a brand of cricket that filters down to our talent pathway and hopefully brings renewed success.

“We’re also delighted that Sam Billings will continue his leadership of our T20 side. Sam has invaluable experience of playing in, and winning, the biggest tournaments in T20 cricket, including captaining us to our T20 title in 2021.”