After third place last year, Kent have the potential to make an impact again in the Championship but to win it they will need Surrey to have an unexpectedly poor season.
They have a strong bowling attack and a solid batting line-up, but might be short of cover in the absence of key players.
 Rob Key deserves to be given a run in the England side and could be missing for large parts of the summer |
Martin Saggers and Amjad Khan were the First Division's leading wicket-takers last season with 79 and 63 respectively.
Kent have strengthened their attack by signing left-armer Alamgir Sheriyar, who took 57 wickets for Worcestershire in Division Two last year and 65 the year before.
It will be interesting to see if he can make the same impact in Division One.
Those three, allied to the experience of Mark Ealham and Min Patel, provide Kent with plenty of bowling options.
Peter Trego has been signed from Somerset, supposedly as Matthew Fleming's replacement, but the 21-year-old's confidence in his own ability has yet to be matched by his performances.
He has talent though and might prove to be a shrewd signing, but Fleming is a difficult act to follow, despite playing only a minor role in Kent's championship campaign last summer.
Three other players might be harder to replace.
Robert Key deserves to be given a run in the England side and consequently could be missing for large parts of the summer. He has been a consistent performer over the last two years, passing 1,000 runs on both occasions.
Michael Carberry was signed from Surrey with Key's likely absence in mind, but he is unproven.
Andrew Symonds' international commitments with Australia mean he will miss he will miss the first six weeks of the season.
Kent have found an accomplished temporary replacement in Greg Blewett, an experienced cricketer who is capable of making an immediate impact.
KENT 2003 Director of Cricket: Ian Brayshaw Captain: David Fulton Overseas players: Andrew Symonds (Greg Blewett as cover) Players in: Alamgir Sheriyar, Peter Trego, Michael Carberry Players out: David Masters, Paul Nixon, Matthew Fleming, Martin McCague |
For now, they have opted not to sign a second permanent overseas player. This could undermine a serious challenge for the title.
Paul Nixon's departure also leaves a gap. His experience and runs in the lower order - 865 at 37.60 in 2002 - need to be compensated for and Geraint Jones has been given that responsibility.
Jones, who was born in Papua New Guinea and grew up in Queensland, is a useful batsman who made 76 not out against Sri Lanka in one of his rare first-class appearances last season.
The pressure will be on captain David Fulton and Ed Smith to reproduce the form of the last two seasons when both averaged over 40.
Fulton's golden year of 2001 was always going to be hard to reproduce, especially having taken on the captaincy, but he still weighed in with 1,166 runs.
Kent should get closer to Surrey than they did last year but it will not be close enough.
MMIX
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