Ashes spinner position up for grabs

ahmed

Australia completed a dominant 255-run victory over Kent in their first tour match ahead of the Ashes, but Fawad Ahmed did little to advance his claims for a potential Test debut.

Ahmed, who appears likely to play second fiddle to Nathan Lyon in the upcoming five-Test series unless Australia opt to play two spinners, returned 2-74 from nine overs as opener Daniel Bell-Drummond excelled at the St Lawrence Ground.

Bell-Drummond struck 127 from 112 balls to delay the tourists' push for victory on the fourth and final day, moving to his century with a third successive boundary off Ahmed after striking three fours and a six in the leg-spinner's previous over.

Tailender Mitchell Claydon also found boundaries easy to come by when thumping 53 off 27 deliveries against his countrymen, but Australia were nevertheless able to win comfortably having set Kent a mammoth target of 550.

Steve Smith claimed 3-54 from 5.4 overs with his part-time leg-spin, conceding seven successive boundaries to Claydon at one point as Kent went down swinging.

The other wickets were shared among the pacemen, although Ryan Harris also suffered punishment at the hands of Bell-Drummond on his way to figures of 2-59.

Next up for Australia is a four-day game against Essex at Chelmsford before the first Test against England starts in Cardiff on July 8.

Author(s)