KENT County Cricket Club have confirmed two pre-season friendly fixtures and a Portuguese-based training camp ahead of their 2008 campaign,

On Monday, March 17 Rob Key’s squad will travel to the Barringtons Sports Training Centre in Vale do Lobo on the Algarve for a five-day fitness get-together.

The county have enjoyed the facilities at the La Manga Club in Spain for the past two years, but felt a change of venue was needed and Barringtons with its well equipped gymnasium, a studio for pilates and a sports field for cricket skills fitted the bill.

Kent’s new strength and conditioning coach James Butterfill will be taking the players on a gruelling week of fitness, with Graham Ford, Simon Willis and new academy director Philip Relf overseeing all fielding practices and drills.

The Algarve venue has been used by Liverpool Football Club and more recently Nottinghamshire, who will be their opponents in the county’s only pre-season friendly in Canterbury.

The two teams will meet at St Lawrence between April 2nd an 4th then Kent will travel to their Worsley Bridge Road Ground in Beckenham to play two, one-day friendlies against Surrey on April 9 and 10.