WITH Kent members collecting signatures to force an extraordinary general meeting and speculation that two international batsmen will leave at the end of the season, it was easy to detect the smell of gunpowder in the Canterbury air yesterday. That Surrey moved ahead in the game seemed to be the least of the problems for the county.

Ed Smith is thought to have become disillusioned with aspects of the running of the club even before the mutiny by a number of senior players, including Andrew Symonds, against his captaincy when he stood in for the injured David Fulton at Worcester in June. “At this stage I do not want to comment on what has happened either on or off the field,” Smith said.

Middlesex are aware of rumours that Owais Shah is about to leave for Surrey and have already been linked with an approach for Smith. There is money at the Oval to invest on the playing side and Surrey are prepared to spend some of it on improving the top order. They are also interested in Robert Key, who, like Smith, is out of contract in the winter.

Key’s qualities have been witnessed by a wider audience recently and if his England career continues to blossom, he will become an occasional figure at county level. Smith, though, has dropped down the pecking order since playing in three Tests last summer and would be a significant acquisition as a proven run-scorer in domestic cricket.

To this backdrop, Graham Long, a life member, has launched a petition entitled “Serious Concerns for the Future of Kent Cricket Club”, which criticises management for efficiency, planning, the record of signing players and communication. A total of 100 signatories will be enough to bring a vote of confidence.

The mood of impending doom was only partially lifted in the first session when Ian Butler, with a career-best 68, and Rob Ferley constructed the best ninth-wicket partnership for Kent against Surrey, a fixture dating back to 1828. They put on 103 before succumbing in the first seven balls after lunch.

If the total of 226 seemed mountainous to a side once on 121 for eight, then Scott Newman and Richard Clinton put it into perspective by adding 170 in 42 overs. Newman converted his eleventh fifty of the season into a second hundred and struck 18 fours and a six in his 111 from 149 balls before Matt Walker held a sharp catch in the fifth slip position.

That meant a second wicket for the persevering Matthew Dennington, who had removed Clinton with a swinging full toss in his previous over. Clinton was on the Kent staff from 1999 to 2000, so he could take satisfaction from his 58. Walker must have cringed at every one of those runs, having dropped the player at second slip on nought.

The pitch is dry and a little two-paced. So far the spin bowlers have found little turn from the footmarks. Kent, though, plugged away and the capture of late wickets, including that of Mark Ramprakash, dropped to No 5 because of illness, means that they are not yet out of the game.