SURREY V KENT at Whitgift School (LVCC1), 30 MAY - 2 JUNE 2007

Surrey need to start winning if they are to avoid being relegated for the second time in three years in the County Championship. The good news is that they are paying their annual visit to South Croydon, where they have played four, won three and drawn the other on their previous championship outings at Whitgift School. In Kent they are also up against opponents who look as if they can be beaten. However, the weather is likely to have a big say over the next four days. The forecasters are saying that there's a 50:50 chance of seeing some action on the first two days, day three will be a write-off, but that day four is likely to be dry with a tinge of sunshine. They have been wrong in the past and no doubt Mark Butcher and his men will be hoping the weathermen are wrong again on this occasion.

Tomorrow's visitors currently lie seventh in the first division. But that's nothing unusual for Kent, who have finished fifth in each of the last two years and, of course, are the only county never to have experienced life in Division Two. But the hop county's survival instincts will be severely tested if their batting line-up keeps looking to Joe Denly (348 championship runs at an average of 58.00 so far this term), Rob Key and Matt Walker to make all the runs. Darren Stevens and Martin van Jaarsveld have each made a hundred in the championship, but have contributed little else. But the visitors can take comfort from the fact that, in first-class cricket against Surrey, Key averages 60.50 (with 4 hundreds), van Jaarsveld 57.25, Geraint Jones 49.50 and Walker 41.06 with the bat.

Robbie Joseph is fit again after recovering from a split ear, the legacy of a Steve Harmison bouncer during Kent's defeat up at Durham, but Simon Cook, who is averaging 20.80 with the ball in the championship, is expected to retain his place. Pakistan's Yasir Arafat (21 wickets at 25.47 runs apiece) leads the Kent attack, abetted by South Africans Ryan McLaren and Andrew Hall. James Tredwell again provides the spin option in the absence of Min Patel, who misses out due to elbow and neck problems.

Azhar Mahmood has 494 first-class wickets and 19 hauls of five wickets or more. Alistair Brown has 44 f-c hundreds, while Mark Butcher has 24 f-c hundreds for Surrey. Scott Newman has made 4,836 f-c runs and Ian Salisbury has 199 catches in f-c cricket.

Azhar Mahmood returns to action after a sore back and then an elbow injury. He replaces Richard Clinton, who did little at Hove to suggest that he should be ahead of James Benning if Mahmood falls injured again. Mohammad Akram is included in the 12-man squad, but will only play if the strip at Whitgift looks as though it offers nothing for the spinners. Last year, however, eleven of the 20 Essex wickets captured by the Brown Caps were taken by Nayan Doshi and Ian Salisbury.

The last time these two sides met one another in the championship, Surrey lost a match they should have made safe. That four-wicket defeat at Guildford was a defining moment in their relegation season. Assuming the pain of that encounter remains - though one hopes not to the extent that Jimmy Ormond's hand still hurts - the Brown Caps will be out for revenge. Their championship performances have taken a turn for the better of late, but the weather forecast is so unpromising it would be mad of me to back anything but the draw.

R Key (capt), J Denly, M van Jaarsveld, M Walker, D Stevens, G Jones (wk), A Hall, Yasir Arafat, R McLaren, J Tredwell and S Cook.

Peter Hartley and Jeremy Lloyds.

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