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Neil Fairbrother and Ian Austin won tributes from England captain Alex Stewart after inspiring their World Cup warm-up win over Kent.

The Lancashire pair made major contributions, Fairbrother hitting a superb half-century and Austin claiming 4-39, as England shook off a touch of rustiness in a useful Canterbury work-out.

``That was promising,'' said Stewart. ``Fairbrother and Graham Thorpe basically won the game for us with their batting, but our bowlers generally put the ball in the right place.

``As far as Ian Austin is concerned, it's an obvious thing to say that he is one of the best one-day bowlers around. He has a job to do and he did it well in this game.''

Austin's role is to contain the batsmen in the first 15 overs when fielding restrictions apply, and then come back at the 'death' to halt any late slogging. He went down only one expensive over before demolishing the tail to earn 4-39.

It also underlined that he has recovered from the thigh injury which forced him out of Lancashire's championship game at Leicester.

Fairbrother's half-century was a typically shrewd effort, finished with a flourish when he hammered a six and a four just before the end, and it took England to 197-7 off 38 overs cut by rain.

Even with a big hitting 57 from Aussie star Andrew Symonds, and useful knocks from Mark Ealham and Matthew Fleming, Kent could manage only 163 with the last four wickets tumbling for three runs and Austin claiming three of them.

England take on Essex at Chelmsford and Hampshire at Southampton over the next three days, needing to improve as they head for the big cup opener against champs Sri Lanka at Lord's on Friday.