Vaas is a respected new ball performer

In spinner MUttiah Muralitharan's absence, Sri Lanka will look to left-armer Chaminda Vaas as their most likely source of wickets.

He has 196 from 59 Test appearances and Fulton rates him as a high quality performer.

"I played against Sri Lanka for Kent seconds a few years ago and was lbw first ball padding up to Vaas. I always thought he'd do well in county cricket - he's very under-rated."

Kent will be without their Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds and regular wicket-keeper Paul Nixon, and Martin Saggers replaces fast bowler Amjad Khan.

Sri Lanka will be looking to their batsmen to play themselves into form at the St Lawrence Ground, where more than 1,400 runs were scored in the recent drawn match against Hampshire.

They may include veteran batsman Aravinda de Silva, who enjoyed a successful season with Kent in 1995 and has been recalled for this tour.

Fulton and Key, meanwhile, have the opportunity to press their claims for an England Test call.

Only five batsmen have been awarded central contracts so far and it is probable that one more will be needed for Lord's.

Warwickshire's Ian Bell is seen by some as the favourite but Key has also benefitted from a winter in Adelaide with the England Academy squad and made 160 against Hampshire.

"He is in fantastic form. I stood at slip and watched John Crawley make 272 against us and I'd say Robert's innings was better - until I ran him out," Fulton added.

Kent (from): D Fulton (capt), R Key, E Smith, M Walker, J Hockley, M Fleming, G Jones (wkt), M Patel, J Golding, M Saggers, B Trott, D Masters.

Sri Lanka (from): S Jayasuriya (capt), I Amerasinghe, R Arnold, M Atapattu, C Buddhika, U Chandana, A de Silva, M Jayawardene, P Jayawardene, R Perera, T Samaraweera, K Sangakkara, H Tillekeratne, E Upashanta, C Vaas, N Zoysa.