Ashes: 'Determined' Clarke believes Oz 'perfectly poised' to defend

Australia skipper Michael Clarke has insisted that his players are perfectly poised to defend the Ashes after a comfortable win over Kent in their first warm-up game.

Australia claimed a 255-run win over the county team as Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh and Steven Smith scored a century each, ahead of the first Test in Cardiff next week.

The Michael Clarke-led team will seek to end a streak of three straight away Ashes series reverses on this tour.

Clarke said that it was really important for them as a team to get a first win in the UK, adding that individually everyone performed well and expecting the same result when they play against Essex, Sport24 reported.

Clarke, who led his side to 5-0 series whitewash over the traditional rivals on home soil in 2013-14, also said that they are trying to work that perfect balance as a team leading up to that first Test.