A MUTUAL respect appears to exist nowadays between Kent and Warwickshire that will be tested for the second time in barely a week when the counties do battle again in Sunday’s totesport League Division 2 clash at Edgbaston.

Historically, relationships between the two clubs have been strained, the legacy of the infamous Edgbaston bowl-off in the Benson and Hedges Cup quarter-final of May 1994.

Though cricket was played in the right spirit and manner last week, as Warwickshire escaped from Canterbury with a championship draw, David Fulton’s side known they will have to be far more ruthless if they are to secure a rare win in the Second City this weekend.

Honours finished even in 2004, when both clubs suffered relegation, with Kent gaining a rain-affected with at Beckenham only to suffer a six-wicket drubbing in Birmingham.

Sunday’s clash will be the 41st between the two sides, Spitfires having secured 20 wins to 14 by the Bears’.

Then, on Tuesday, Kent travel to leafy Salisbury to take on Wiltshire in the first round of this year’s Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy.

South Wiltshire Cricket Club’s Bemerton Sports Ground in Wilton Road off the A36 toward Bristol will host the first ever meeting between these two sides since the competition started in 1963 as the old Gillette Cup.

The minor county side look set to include former Kent all-rounder James Golding, who now plays for Western League side Keynsham after a successful Birmingham League stint with Barnt Green.

Former Kent 2nd XI triallist James Hibberd, who appeared for in the county's 2nd XI Trophy winning side of 2002, will also be named in the Wiltshire squad skippered by opening batsman Russell Rowe, a stalwart at the South Wilts Club for over 20 years.

Play is scheduled to start at 10.45am.