Sam Billings has stepped down as Kent club captain.

In a heartfelt message at their 2023 end-of-season awards event on Wednesday evening, the 32-year-old announced his intention to focus on improving his game going into the 2024 season and beyond.

The Academy product and England international was appointed as the club’s 35th captain in January 2018 and, in his time leading the men’s side, he has overseen winning the T20 Blast in 2021, as well as promotion to Division 1 of the County Championship and a One-Day Cup Final in his first season as skipper in 2018.

But the wicketkeeper stepped down as Kent’s red-ball skipper in June after a poor start to the summer and was replaced by Jack Leaning.

Billings said: “It has been an incredible honour to captain this great club. To follow in the footsteps of so many wonderful captains over the years has been truly special.

“Hopefully, I’ve left the club in a better place and taken the cap forward.

“Special thanks must go to [retiring director of cricket] Paul Downton for the unwavering support and advice he has offered throughout.

“Alongside Paul and [head coach] Matt Walker, we set out with three clear aims that we wanted to try and achieve - to produce England players, win trophies and play Division 1 cricket.

“The environment that has been created behind-the-scenes has achieved all three aims consistently, which I’m incredibly proud of. It has been an amazing project to be a part of.

“Finals Day at Edgbaston in 2021, lifting the Vitality Blast trophy, will always go down as one of my personal highlights of my career.

“It’s time for someone else to take the club forward alongside a fresh energy from the new director of cricket Simon Cook. As always, I’ll give everything to support that individual and continue to drive the team on for further success.

“I’m looking forward to focusing on my own game, to get back to the levels that I aspire to perform at, more consistently for the team.

“Thank you to all the members, staff and, most importantly, the players for all of the support throughout. I’ll see you all back at The Spitfire Ground in 2024.”

Billings will remain a Kent player until at least the end of the 2025 season after signing a contract extension last year.

Director of cricket Simon Cook said: “Sam has been an outstanding leader in his time as captain.

“What people haven’t seen is the work that he has put in over the years behind-the-scenes – constantly pushing for us to improve and raise standards in all aspects of the club, as well as playing a personal role in attracting players to play for Kent under his leadership.

“He’ll forever be known as our 2021 T20-winning captain and that is a legacy that he fully deserves.

“I’d like to thank Sam for his service as captain and I look forward to working with him in the coming seasons as a Kent cricketer.”

This winter, Billings is set to play overseas franchise cricket for Dubai Capitals in the second season of the DP World ILT20 in the United Arab Emirates and will rejoin Brisbane Heat for the Australian T20 Big Bash League competition.

He also spoke about discovering he had skin cancer in May.

An announcement on Kent’s new captain will be made in due course.

Leaning, fellow batsmen Daniel Bell-Drummond and vastly experienced batsman Joe Denly are leading candidates for the role.