Surrey captain Gareth Batty has admitted that it feels "like Christmas Day" as he prepares to unleash Kevin Pietersen and Kumar Sangakkara on County Championship Division Two.
Sri Lanka legend Sangakkara, who is top of the Test batting rankings and number two in the one-day international standings, has signed as an overseas player for the 2015 campaign, and Pietersen has rejoined to boost his chances of an England recall.
Batty, 37, acknowledges that the Oval county are lucky to have two "greats of the game" in their squad ahead of starting their season against Glamorgan on Sunday.
"There aren't too many players who can class themselves as greats of the game," he told BBC Sport "We have two this year in Kumar and Kevin. It is a coup for the club."
Surrey director of cricket Alec Stewart added: "Kumar is the number one player in the world and to have someone of his stature is great. Kevin is another great asset but what is important is we don't just rely on two people or so.
"There is a talented dressing room and young players developing nicely. Our players will learn so much from them and that will continue."
Pietersen, who has scored 8,181 runs at an average of 47.28 in 104 Tests, racked up 170 against Oxford MCCU on his return to first-class cricket last week.
Sangakkara is the fastest of the five batsmen to reach 12,000 Test runs, doing so in fewer than 130 matches at an average of 58.66, and became the first ever player to score four consecutive hundreds in the 50-over game at the recent World Cup.
Joe Fish
