SPITFIRES' skipper Rob Key is hoping personal pride will lift Kent to a return to winning ways in their penultimate NatWest Pro40 League game of the campaign in Cardiff today.

Kent take on the Dragons at a new-look Sophia Gardens off the back of three straight defeats, but Key's injury-hit side could yet claim third place in Division 2 and with it a play-off shot against the seventh-placed finishers in the first division.

To stand any chance of that, Kent must win in Wales today and then against Yorkshire in Sunday's final league game at St Lawrence.

Though he and his side are going through a tough patch right now, Key believes there is enough character in the side to see them through.

He said: "It's not the most enjoyable of times to be captain when you only have three or four full-time bowlers in your attack and the rest of your bowling has to be 'fiddled' from part-timers, it's not much fun to say the least.

"The three defeats have damaged our chances in the Pro40, but we haven't prioritised one competition ahead of the other, but I feel the injuries and the results have more or less dictated what we do from here on in.

"I'm hopeful that personal pride will get us through now. We have a few players nearing 1,000 runs and who will want to play well in the next two games to reach their individual milestones."

Key is again without the services of Ryan McLaren (fractured thumb) and is therefore likely to select from an unchanged squad: Kent from: Key, Denly, Walker, van Jaarsveld, Jones, Stevens, Dexter, Tredwell, Cook, Saggers, Blake, Hemphrey.