For a fixture that has seen its fair share of draws in recent years, the Oval outfit have not been beaten by Kent since they lost two championship matches in succession to round off the 1997 season. That said, in Surrey's last couple of visits to Canterbury the hop county probably entertained thoughts of victory. Tomorrow's visitors could certainly do with a win right now, sitting, as they are, just off the foot of the Division One table with the team ten points below them, Leicestershire enjoying the advantage of a game in hand. Surrey's Martin Bicknell has been one of those surprised by Kent's indifferent start to the season. He told www.ovalworld-online.com: “I've been surprised by them and Warwickshire, to be honest. But that just shows you the quality that’s around in the first division. Anybody can beat anybody. Leicestershire, you would say, are a poor side. But the rest are all capable of beating you.” One of the worries for Kent coming into the season was making up for the loss of wicketkeeper Paul Nixon, but Geraint Jones has more than justified his promotion by racking up 591 championship runs from ten completed innings. The three other new faces in the Kent line-up, Michael Carberry, Alamgir Sheriyar and James Tredwell, have been this summer's other plus points. Carberry, 22, joined the hop county from Surrey over the winter and has started his first full season with 367 runs at an average of 30.58 in the County Championship. With Martin Saggers suffering from injury Sheriyar, who left Worcestershire, has been Kent's leading wicket-taker. Finally, Tredwell - an off-spinning all-rounder - has come in for the injured Min Patel and averaged 20.27 with the bat and 33.52 with the ball.
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