KENT V SURREY at Canterbury (LVCC2), 28-31 AUGUST 2009

Kent have been the class outfit in Division Two this year, so, coming off a demoralising defeat at the hands of Essex last weekend, Surrey are likely to have to dig deep to get anything out of this contest. Mind you, Middlesex were facing a pretty similar set of circumstances when they travelled to Canterbury three weeks' ago and the North Londoners came away with a 47-run victory, which they completed within three days.

Had it not been for Darren Stevens's first innings 67 for the home side, Middlesex might have rolled Kent over with ease. As the game wore on, spin came into the equation, which would appear to favour Kent on this occasion given the contrasting fortunes of James Tredwell and Chris Schofield in this year's County Championship.

Tredwell is Kent's leading wicket-taker in the champo, with 57 victims at twenty runs apiece. He is also averaging 35.36 with the bat. 32-year-old seamer Simon Cook has come to the fore this term with 25 wickets at 23.76, but, when he has played, Azhar Mahmood has been an inspiration with the ball for the hop county.

Martin van Jaarsveld currently sits at the top of Kent's championship batting averages, with 1,091 runs at an average of 68.18, including five hundreds. Below him, Rob Key, Geraint Jones and Joe Denly have all struck three championship centuries and average over forty.

Usman Afzaal goes into this contest with 99 catches in first-class cricket, while Jonathan Batty has 495 f-c dismissals. With the bat Afzaal needs 81 runs for a thousand for the season and, career-wise, Stewart Walters has 952 first-class runs. Of the Kent contingent, Geraint Jones has 398 f-c dismissals. 

The on loan duo of James Anyon (Warwickshire) and Tom Smith (Sussex) are named in Surrey's squad of thirteen for this match, as is Mark Ramprakash even though the Brown Caps' leading batsman tweaked a hamstring in tonight's Pro40 loss to the Spitfires. Jade Dernbach, who was rested for today's game, also makes the squad.

The weather looks set fair, which is a turn up for an August Bank Holiday weekend. If we do get four full days' worth, though, I can only see the Division Two leaders dominating, especially if the pitch turns - Kent have included two front-line spinners in their eleven.

R Key (capt), S Northeast, G Jones (wk), M van Jaarsveld, D Stevens, J Kemp, Azhar Mahmood, J Tredwell, S Cook, R Ferley and P Edwards.

George Sharp and Peter Willey. See also The Dreaded Finger

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