Bell and Trott lead Warwickshire win

Warwickshire's England batting stars Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell and Jim Troughton all hit half-centuries to steer the Bears to a six-wicket win over injury-hit Kent in their Clydesdale Bank 40 match at Canterbury.

Chasing Kent's moderate total of 246 for 6 at a shade more than six an over, Warwickshire romped to their target with 13 balls to spare courtesy of Bell's excellent 88, a workmanlike 54 by Trott and an unbeaten 56 from Troughton off only 51 deliveries.

The visitors lost pinch-hitter Neil Carter (eight) early in their reply when he played down the wrong line of an Azhar Mahmood leg-cutter, but it was another 21 overs before Spitfires enjoyed another success as Trott and Bell made the most of a short boundary on the lime tree side of St Lawrence by posting 126 for the second wicket.

Former Scotland seamer Dewald Nel suffered a dreadful home debut and disappeared to all parts. The slightly-built right-arm bowler conceded 32, all of them in boundaries, from his opening three overs from the Nackington Road. He came back at the Pavilion End for a further stint after minor injuries to Mahmood and Simon Cook, but still proved expensive - his 7.5 overs cost 70 runs; he went for 13 fours.

Trott appeared content to play second fiddle to Bell, who silenced the home support by lofting extravagant sixes over extra cover and into the top tier of the Annexe, where the ball struck a cameraman.

Trott eventually went for 54 from 73 balls when he toe-ended an attempted drive against Cook, who was the pick of Kent's attack on his season's bow. Then, with Mahmood off the field with a slight groin or thigh issue, Martin van Jaarsveld dismissed Bell. Nel at least snared Darren Maddy leg before for a second-ball duck, but Troughton and his skipper Ian Westwood feasted on a string of loose deliveries thereafter to steer their side to an emphatic win.

Kent's total was built around three half-centuries from top-scorer Joe Denly (80), a steady 58 off 63 balls from Van Jaarsveld and a cracking 55 from 32 balls from Darren Stevens. The hosts lost skipper Rob Key for 10, but rallied with a partnership of 113 in 22 between Denly and Van Jaarsveld that ended when the South African clipped back a return catch to wrist spinner Imran Tahir.

Four overs later, Tahir's whippy arm action also ended Denly's 102-ball stay when he missed an attempted slog-sweep and lost middle and off stumps. Geraint Jones had his off stump trimmed when attempting to make room for the cut against Maddy, who also bowled Mahmood heaving across the line, leaving Stevens to provide the late pyrotechnics.

The ex-Leicestershire right-hander hit five sixes in a 29-ball 50 with no fours before falling in the penultimate over to a Carter full toss, but his side's total was at least 30 short of a defendable one.