Surrey's hopes of winning promotion in the County Championship will rely heavily on Harbhajan Singh.

The India off-spinner proved an instant hit when he played for Surrey in 2005 and coach Chris Adams has made no secret of his desire to bring him back to the Brit Oval.

He said: "The issue has always been, can we take 20 wickets in the four-day game and that's why we need players like Harbhajan.

"He is exactly the type of player we want to sign but he has just flown out to the West Indies for a one-day series and will then need time to get his body back in order so we are probably looking at the end of July before he joins us."

The delay over Harbhajan's signing has hindered Surrey's recruitment throughout the season and Adams admits that had he known he would not be able to get his man until four months into the season, he would have played things differently in the transfer market and not relied on short-term deals.

On taking over at Surrey at the start of the year, Adams insisted that rebuilding the side was a long-term plan, which he has underlined by pursuing Worcestershire and England one-day wicketkeeper Steven Davies.

The 22-year-old is out of contract at the end of the summer and Surrey have put an official approach to Worcester but they face competition from Hampshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire.

Adams said: "He is a good batsman and an exceptional gloveman and is the type of player we should be recruiting. What I want to see is Surrey signing the best young players in the country, not players who have had their day or second-rate players."

Although Surrey have yet to make their mark on the one-day game Adams believes they are making progress and just need to rediscover that winning mentality.

He said: "I have seen a significant improvement in the side. We have been very competitive in games and that makes it all the more frustrating because we get ourselves in good positions but can't get over the line.

"Had the side been more conditioned to playing good cricket we would have made the quarter-finals of the Friends Provident Trophy and would have picked up five wins in the Twenty20 Cup with three games left."

Surrey's slim hopes of qualifying for the Twenty20 Cup quarter-finals were finally killed off on Wednesday night when they lost by a solitary run to Kent.

Even though there will be nothing riding on this Sunday's return fixture at Beckenham, the circumstances in which the contest at the Brit Oval ended should make it a spicy affair.

Kent fell behind the clock with their over-rate, so Surrey were awarded six penalty runs leaving them needing eight off the last over instead of 14.

Jade Dernbach took a single off the first ball, Andre Nel squeezed four through third man off the second, but, then, in taking a leg bye, Nel barged into Ryan McLaren, who was the bowler at the time.

The Spitfires' captain, Robert Key, was furious and berated both Nel and the umpire Ian Gould, presumably claiming that the South African should have been dismissed for deliberately obstructing the field.

Needing to score two off three deliveries, Dernbach attempted a suicidal single to Justin Kemp at mid-wicket to hand Kent victory. But it did not end there, with Dernbach going nose to nose with the former England wicketkeeper, Geraint Jones, who appeared to egg on the young fast bowler.

It was an unsavoury end to what had been an enthralling contest.

Winning the toss, the Spitfires raced to 91-1 in nine overs. Two overs later, Martin van Jaarsveld brought up a 30-ball half-century, but he was caught by Grant Elliott, who held four chances, and Kent lost their way.

With Surrey needing 169 on a flat pitch, Usman Afzaal hit a valiant 62.

When the Brown Caps stand-in skipper departed in the 17th over, his side were left needing 27 off three with three wickets left.

But the award of six penalty runs pushed the door ajar again.

Surrey's failure to finish in the top three of their group also means they will not compete in Division One of next summer's lucrative 20-over English Premier League.

In the LV County Championship, Dernbach took a career best 6-47. Stuart Meaker, however, was given three points for accidentally bowling two beamers.