Puducherry, Oct 6 (IANS) Nathan McSweeney hit a century and medium pacer Mahli Beardman ripped open India A’s top order with a 4-23 haul as Australia A won by 125 runs in the first of the three-match ‘One-day’ series at the Siechem Stadium in Puducherry on Tuesday.
McSweeney struck 123 off 135 balls, studded with 13 boundaries, recording his second List A hundred. He put on 141 for the sixth wicket in 23.2 overs with skipper Will Sutherland (77, 68b, 2×4, 4×6) to lift the visitors to a competitive 274 all out in 48.2 overs.
Opting to bat first, Australia A were reeling at 87/5 before McSweeney and Will Sutherland got into the rescue act.
Defending a modest total, the 21-year-old Beardman, who returned his career-best figures, dismissed Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal and wicketkeeper-batter Prabhsimran Singh to push India A onto the back foot at 24/3 by the fourth over.
Soon, left-arm fast bowler Spencer Johnson scalped skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad to make it 58/4 to scupper the home side’s chances of a strong fightback.
India A were bowled out for 149, with Rajat Patidar top-scoring with 53 (51b, 5×4, 1×6) for his 14th List A fifty.
The visitors lost half their side by the 17th over to some top-drawer bowling before a dominant McSweeney-Sutherland stand turned it around, with the latter also blasting three successive sixes off left-arm spinner Anukul Roy.
Re-introduced into the attack in the 40th over, young medium-fast bowler Suryansh Shedge, who was called up as an injury replacement for Hardik Pandya, broke the stand by dismissing Sutherland, who recorded his fifth List A fifty, clean bowled.
In his following over, Shedge dismissed Todd Murphy and Spencer Johnson off successive deliveries, both caught behind, to record his second List A four-wicket haul. McSweeney fell to Thakur, caught behind for Prabhsimran’s fourth catch of the match.
The second One-Day will be played on Oct 9 and the final match on Oct 11.
Brief scores:
Australia A 274 all out in 48.2 overs (Nathan McSweeney 123, Will Sutherland 77; Suryansh Shedge 4-40, Arshad Khan 2-48, Yash Thakur 3-47) beat India A 149 all out in 31.4 overs (Rajat Patidar 53, Nishant Sindhu 31, Spencer Johnson 2-36, Mahli Beardman 4-23) by 125 runs.
–IANS
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