KENT'S cricket committee face their toughest decisions of the summer tonight at their September meeting in Canterbury.

The committee are scheduled to decide on the recommendations of the club's coaching team as to which players will be retained for 2007.

Matthew Walker, Martin Saggers, Simon Cusden, David Stiff, Niall O’Brien, Matt Dennington, David Fulton and Rob Ferley are all out of contract come the end of the month and some are bound to leave.

Stiff, on loan at Leicestershire, looks set to be offered a contract at Grace Road, while Cusden is attracting interest from Derbyshire.

Meanwhile, Kent’s hopes to re-sign their former seam bowler Ben Phillips appear to have been scuppered by a counter bid from Somerset.