SURREY BROWN CAPS V KENT SPITFIRES at the Brit Oval (Friends Provident Trophy), 22 APRIL 2007

If recent history is anything to go by, Surrey have the upper hand over Kent in one-day cricket, having won 13 out of the last 14 limited-overs meetings between the two sides. But if the Brown Caps have a weakness it's their bowling, which did not look equipped for one-day cricket last term and will suffer due to the enforced absence of Jade Dernbach and Ian Salisbury tomorrow; not forgetting Tim Murtagh, of course, who will be lining-up for his new county, Middlesex, against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl.

Just to underline the significance of Dernbach and Salisbury being out. In last season's C&G Trophy match against Kent at Canterbury they shared all of the wickets to fall as the visitors pulled off a nail-biting one-run victory. Furthermore, Dernbach bagged three scalps when these two sides met at Guildford in the Pro40 League.

Of the likely Kent line-up, the player who had the best batting average in List A cricket last summer was James Tredwell, whose off-twirlers are also preferred to Min Patel's slow left-arm in one-day cricket. But the Spitfires' leading run-scorer last term was Darren Stevens, with 647 at an average of 40.43, including seven half-centuries in 16 matches.

The hop county's skipper, Rob Key chipped in from time to time, but was hardly spectacular. One who was, though, was 22-year-old all-rounder Neil Dexter who made an unbeaten 135 off 138 balls against Glamorgan at Cardiff in the corresponding competition last June. Another young gun to watch out for is 21-year-old Joe Denly, who opens the batting in the County Championship. In their defeat to Sussex yesterday, Denly was the only Kent batsman to pass 35 in both innings, so would appear to be in good touch.

With the ball for the Spitfires, Martin Saggers is hoping to start his comeback from injury tomorrow. Last term the former England and Durham seamer made barely a handful of appearances, so 2007 is going to be a crucial year as far as he's concerned. With fellow new-baller Amjad Khan out for the season, much will depend on Pakistan's Yasir Arafat, who did well as Sussex's replacement overseas player last summer, and Andrew Hall, when the South African is free of World Cup duties.

To follow... sorry.

As has been said, Dernbach and Salisbury are injured, but the good news is that skipper Mark Butcher is likely to make his first competitive start of the season following a groin injury.

With the wicket being the one used for last summer's Pro40 match against Leicestershire, one thing you can be sure of is runs, runs and more runs. Winning the toss will be crucial, therefore. On paper, Surrey's batting is stronger. However, not everyone fired in the opening County Championship game, so I wouldn't fancy the Brown Caps chasing a big target.

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

Trevor Jesty and Tim Robinson.

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