KENT approach the final month of the season this week fighting for first division survival and battling to keep their top stars at the club.

The in-fighting that ultimately led to the resignation of former chairman of cricket Mike Denness has clearly stopped, but the legacy may yet be the departure of former Test batsman Ed Smith and perhaps England’s Old Trafford hero Robert Key.

Both batsmen are out of contract come the end of the summer and are being linked with moves away from St Lawrence.

Late August is dubbed silly season in cricket when players from every county gossip over who may be moving where and for how much.

The rumour mill churns out the occasional pinch of salt, but the names of Smith and Key are cropping up with such regularity that there must be an element of truth to the rumblings.

Smith, who was understandably upset by his axing from Kent’s Twenty20 squad, refused to be drawn on the subject however.

“It’s true enough that I’m out of contract at the end of this season, but we have four games left and I’m solely concentrating on batting and making sure Kent get runs on the board,” said the 27-year-old right-hander.

“At this stage I don’t want to comment about what’s gone on in the recent past, on or off the field.”

Depending on who you chose to believe, Smith is being linked with moves to Middlesex or Gloucestershire, where the former Cambridge Blue could one day satisfy his captaincy ambitions.

Lord’s would seem the most likely of destinations for Smith, particularly if Middlesex lose young star Owais Shah, who is tipped to move to Surrey.

With his England career in limbo after just three caps, leadership remains one of Smith’s few unfulfilled goals in the county game before a seemingly inevitable move into journalism and writing.

Key, meanwhile, remains in the fledgling stages of his international career and also appears to be attracting interest from Surrey.

Based in Beckenham, Key would not need to up-sticks to move to nearby Kennington Oval and it is no secret that the brown hats need to bolster their ageing batting line up.

However, my sources lead me to believe Key will be persuaded to sign a new deal and will remain at Canterbury for the foreseeable future.

The reality is Kent are possibly resigned to losing one of the two, but will pull out all the stops to ensure they do not lose both.