KENT openers David Fulton and Rob Key will be hoping to catch the eye of the England Test selectors this week when they open the innings for the MCC in a three-day friendly against Sri Lanka staring in Chesterfield tomorrow.

The match, which is being billed by the England and Wales Cricket Board as an old-fashioned Test trial, represents the first opportunity for the pair – regarded by many as the toughest opening partnership in the county game – to stake their selection claims together.

"It’s a game for the fringe players to try and push their names up the pecking order, " said Fulton. "But even if I score 270 I doubt very much whether I would be called in for the third Test.

"Don’t get me wrong, a good performance will not do anyone any harm and will re-affirm to the right people that we can actually play at a good level.

"County cricket has been much maligned in recent months because you can score a lot of runs without making the people that matter think you are good enough for Test cricket.

"As a result, others have called for a level of cricket in-between county and Test levels, such as regional cricket, and if this return to Test trials is their way of achieving it, then fair enough.

"It’s a nice honour for me to be leading the side and I’m very much looking forward to it."

As for England A batsman Key, the game, albeit his first for the MCC, is yet another reminder that he remains firmly in the selectors minds.

Originally scheduled as a four-day game, the match has been reduced to three to allow the likes of Key and Fulton to rejoin their club’s for Sunday’s next round of NUL matches when Kent Spitfires take on Glamorgan in Cardiff.