Australia A beat India A in the first unofficial Test of the two-match series, at the Great Barrier Reef Arena in MacKay.
Chasing 226 for a win in the first unofficial “Test” of the two-match series, Australia A had resumed the third day on 139-3. They barely broke a sweat as captain Nathan McSweeney (88 not out) and Beau Webster (61 not out) completed the chase while scoring at three an over.
Australia have still not announced a new opening partner for Usman Khawaja for the upcoming Test series against India. In this match, Marcus Harris made 17 and 36, while young Sam Konstas and Cameron Bancroft (from No.3) had identical scores of 0 and 16. It is fair to say that McSweeney has raced ahead of the others: he had top-scored in the first innings too, with 39.
Brendan Doggett (6-15) had bowled out India A for 107 on the first day. Mukesh Kumar (6-46) then hit back to restrict the hosts to an 88-run lead. No batter from either first innings made it to 40.
India A did better in their second innings as Sai Sudharsan (103) and Devdutt Padikkal (88) added 196 for the third wicket, but Fergus O’Neill (4-55) and Todd Murphy (3-77) kept striking, and the tourists lost their last eight wickets for 86 runs to be bowled out for 312.
Among Indian cricketers who are part of the Test squad, Abhimanyu Easwaran made 7 and 12; Prasidh Krishna got 3-59 and 1-27; and Nitish Kumar Reddy made 17 runs in two innings and got one wicket.
There was a controversial moment during the final day’s play, when umpire Shawn Craig changed the ball, and the stump microphone caught him explaining his decision. When Ishan Kishan called the decision “stupid”, Craig threatened to put him “on report for dissent”.
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