Kent fans must only have happy memories of Guildford, having seen their side battle back to win after following-on in 1992 and chase down an unlikely 231 in 35 overs, with five balls to spare, in 2005.

Unfortunately, the Canterbury faithful haven't had much to cheer about in 2014. On top of seemingly blowing an excellent start to the NatWest T20 Blast, the Spitfires currently lie fifth in Division Two; out of contention, one would think, in terms of promotion in the LV= County Championship.

However, with six championship games still to play, the hop county will almost certainly have a say in which team goes up from Division Two alongside Worcestershire, who have two wins more than their closest rivals - Essex, Hampshire and Surrey - all of whom have four left to play.

Kent possess just three batsmen averaging over 33.50 in the County Championship - Daniel Bell-Drummond (623 runs at an average of 41.53), Brendan Nash (40.26) and Darren Stevens (39.50). Since making 126 against Surrey at Canterbury, Rob Key has scored just 220 championship runs at an average of 18.33. Prior to Sam Northeast's unbeaten 112 against Leicestershire the other day, his previous 17 knocks in first-class cricket had only produced 301 runs.

Doug Bollinger's on-going shoulder issue has left the Kent attack woefully short of experience, let alone the cutting edge Bollinger provided in the opening weeks of the season. The evergreen Stevens has come to his side's aid by taking 34 wickets at 22.55 runs apiece in the championship, but fellow seamer Mitch Claydon's 27 victims have come at a cost of 38.88. Perhaps 20-year-old Charlie Hartley can build on his first-class debut against Leicestershire last week, in which he took three wickets.

England one-day spinner, James Tredwell has turned out just the once in this season's championship for Kent, taking three wickets at an average of 45.66. Since then he has gone on loan to neighbours Sussex. Curiously, though, the hop county have named Imran Qayyum, a 21-year-old slow left-armer in their 13-man squad for this game alongside off-spinner Adam Riley, who continues to impress with 32 championship scalps at 28.37 runs apiece this term.

Zafar Ansari has 49 first-class wickets, while Kent's Rob Key goes into this clash with 1,941 first-class runs against Surrey. The 35-year-old has made eight of his 52 f-c hundreds against the Oval outfit, including three in his last five visits to the crease against them.

Tom Curran is out for the remainder of the season with ankle ligament damage. Despite recovering from a hamstring injury, Jade Dernbach will not be playing on the ground where he served his apprenticeship. However, Surrey's fast bowling strength is underlined by the fact that five front-line seamers are named in their 13-man squad - Matthew Dunn, George Edwards, Tim Linley, Stuart Meaker and Chris Tremlett. Turning to the batting, Tillakaratne Dilshan returns to the fold and looks likely to replace one of Steven Davies and Arun Harinath.

Despite no championship successes in the last 11 at Woodbridge Road for Surrey, in addition to the heartache Kent have caused them on their last two visits to Guildford, something tells me the Oval outfit are in for a good week. Surrey have now posted 400 or more on first innings in five matches on the trot, whereas Kent's bowling is looking somewhat threadbare, with just Mitch Claydon and Darren Stevens going into this contest with more than 85 first-class wickets to their name. Verdict - Home win.

D Bell-Drummond, R Key (capt), B Harmison, B Nash, S Northeast, D Stevens, S Billings (wk), C Haggett, M Claydon, C Hartley and A Riley.

Rob Bailey and Jeremy Lloyds.

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