County Championship: Warwickshire complete three-day innings win over Kent

Bears paceman Oliver Hannon-Dalby finished with match figures of 8-115

Warwickshire thrashed Kent by an innings and 46 runs inside three days at Canterbury as they finally bowled out the hosts for 332.

Oliver Hannon-Dalby took 4-59 in the second innings to finish with 8-115 in the match, as Warwickshire bounced back from defeat by Essex at Chelmsford in their previous game.

Harry Finch made 67 and Jack Leaning 64, but the hosts were left to rue a dismal first-innings performance and remain mired in a relegation battle.

Kent began day three on 55-1, still 323 behind Warwickshire's first innings score of 549-7, with Joe Denly and Ben Compton not out on 29 and 17 respectively.

Compton was the morning's first victim in the 26th over, when he nicked Hannon-Dalby behind for 26.

Denly was then Hannon-Dalby's next victim, caught by Michael Burgess after the ball seemed to ricochet off his pads.

Finch and Leaning batted through until rain brought an early extended lunch which resulting in a cumulative loss of nine overs.

It was Kent's biggest stand of the match, worth exactly 100 but it ended when Leaning fell into a trap. With three fielders crowding the bat on the leg side he tried repeating a shot he had played in spinner Rob Yates' previous over and this time was caught by Jacob Bethell.

Jordan Cox lasted 17 balls before he tried to sweep Yates and was lbw for four, leaving Kent on 223-5 at tea.

Finch's obdurate innings came to an end when Chris Rushworth bowled him off stump with the new ball and, when Henry Brookes had Joey Evison caught behind for 37, the last of Kent's defensive-minded batters had gone.

Grant Stewart decided to have some fun, whacking successive sixes off Rushworth including one that went into a third-tier balcony in the Old Dover Road flats and he hung around for 44 balls, putting on 64 with Hamid Qadri before he hit Hannon-Dalby to Glenn Maxwell at gully for 40.

Any realistic hopes Kent had of taking the game into a fourth day ended when Qadri went to the very next ball, lbw to Maxwell for 30 and the victory was confirmed when Arshdeep Singh drove Hannon-Dalby to Will Rhodes at mid on in the next over.

The Bears now face Lancashire at home in a week's time, starting on 19 July, when Kent go to Chelmsford to face Essex.

Kent coach Matthew Walker:

"On a wicket like that 170 just isn't going to cut it, unfortunately. If you can bowl them for a similar score you're in the game but, on that wicket, we all knew what was going to happen.

"They set there stall out and showed us how to bat, it was as simple as that. When you're facing a deficit of nearly 400 it's a long way back. We tried our hardest in the field and probably didn't bowl as well as we'd have liked, but this isn't on the bowlers.

"There were some glimpses. It was really good to see Joe Denly and Jack Leaning getting back to their best. Both have been short of runs.

"The Kookaburras have been quite a success actually. At this time of year it's really worked well, when the wickets have been better. Has it upskilled cricketers? Yes, probably. It's allowed spin to play more of a part. I'd imagine more spin has been bowled over this last two weeks that probably previously with the Dukes ball."

Warwickshire coach Mark Robinson:

"It was hard work. We had the heartbreak at Trent Bridge where we just couldn't get that one breakthrough so to get over the line in this one is outstanding because the wicket was like plasticine and the Kookaburra exacerbates everything.

"I'm really pleased with Rob Yates. He's worked so hard on his bowling and he's got his opportunity and got those two vital wickets.

"It seemed a long way to the new ball (when he broke the Finch-Leaning partnership) which is obviously your beacon of hope. You don't really want your new ball with them in because you know it goes soft very quickly, but he gets some good revs on the ball.

"He's somebody we think a lot of. He just lacks a bit of consistency, otherwise I'm sure he'd be knocking on England's door rather than ours because he's got this fantastic ability to convert once he gets to 50. He'll just keep getting better and his bowling is an asset as well."

Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network.