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Australia crush Kent in tour opener

Canterbury - Australia beat Kent by 255 runs in their Ashes tour-opener at Canterbury on Sunday.

Kent, set a target of 550 to win, were dismissed for 294 in their second innings on Sunday's fourth and final day.

Kent county's Daniel Bell-Drummond top-scored with 127 while the Australian leg-spinner Steven Smith took three wickets.

Australia have one more tour match, a four-day fixture against Essex at Chelmsford starting on Wednesday, before they begin the defence of the Ashes with the first Test against England in Cardiff on July 8.

The complete scoreboard:

Australia 1st Innings 507-8 dec (S Marsh 114, S Smith 111, C Rogers 84, M Clarke 56; M Hunn 5-99)

Kent 1st Innings 280 (R Key 87; M Johnson 4-56)

Australia 2nd innings (overnight: 322-4)

C. Rogers c sub (Weller) b Riley 45

M. Clarke c Harmison b Riley 47

S. Watson c sub (Weller) b Riley 81

M. Marsh retired out 101

B. Haddin not out 11

M. Johnson not out 27

Extras (b9, lb1) 10

Total (4 wkts dec, 62 overs) 322

Did not bat: S Marsh, S Smith, R Harris, P Siddle, F Ahmed

Fall of wickets: 1-91 (Rogers), 2-110 (Clarke), 3-263 (M Marsh), 4-290 (Watson)

Bowling: Claydon 8-2-25-0; Hunn 9-1-50-0; Thomas 15-2-64-0; Riley 19-2-114-3; Ball 5-0-39-0; Denly 6-2-20-0

Kent 2nd innings (target: 550)

D. Bell-Drummond lbw b Harris 127

J. Denly b Siddle 22

R. Key c Johnson b Ahmed 14

S. Northeast c Haddin b M Marsh 11

B. Harmison c Harris b Smith 31

S. Billings c S Marsh b Harris 3

A. Ball c Siddle b Smith 1

M. Claydon c Rogers b Ahmed 53

A. Riley c Watson b Johnson 0

M. Hunn not out 15

I. Thomas c S Marsh b Smith 0

Extras (b8, lb8, nb1) 17

Total (all out, 58.4 overs) 294

Fall of wickets: 1-55 (Denly), 2-84 (Key), 3-100 (Northeast), 4-193 (Bell-Drummond), 5-203 (Billings), 6-220 (Ball), 7-232 (Harmison), 8-233 (Riley), 9-284 (Claydon), 10-294 (Thomas)

Bowling: Harris 14-4-59-2; Johnson 12-4-29-1; Siddle 12-4-34-1; Ahmed 9-0-74-2; M Marsh 6-1-28-1 (1nb); Smith 5.4-0-54-3;

Result: Australia won by 255 runs

Toss: Kent

Umpires: Ben Debenham (ENG), Nigel Llong (ENG).

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