While the future looks sound, the present is a dilemma for Australian selectors ahead of the first Test against India.
A disastrous start to Australia A’s second innings and two low scores for captain Nathan McSweeney have further muddied the waters around who should open the batting with Usman Khawaja.
Young gun Sam Konstas again showed he has a massive future, scoring an unbeaten 73 on Saturday to guide the home side to victory against India A by six wickets at the MCG.
But after the 19-year-old was dismissed for just three in the first innings, it was not the massive knock Konstas needed to bash down the Australian team door.
He came to the crease after lunch on Saturday after fellow Test aspirants Marcus Harris and Cameron Bancroft fell to successive Prasidh Krishna deliveries at the start of the Australia A run chase.
Konstas survived the hat-trick ball and then steadily built his knock, joining in-form allrounder Beau Webster (46 not out) in a 96-run stand that secured the win, as Australia A reached 4-169.
Along the way, McSweeney was dismissed for 25 after making 14 in the first innings. He was elevated to an opening slot for this game as a Test audition.
Bancroft’s golden duck adds to his run of lousy form – he has scored just 29 runs in his eight first-class innings this summer. He and Konstas scored three apiece in the first innings.
The popular thinking has been that McSweeney will be named on Sunday morning in the Australian squad for the first Test against India from November 22 in Perth.
Harris’s top score of 74 in the first innings did no harm for his hopes of a Test recall, but they were dampened severely by his second-innings failure.
There is one vacancy in the Test squad, and over the past three days nobody has made a cast-iron case for it.
Spin bowler Corey Rocchiccioli, who took 4-74 in India’s second innings, missed the early drama in Australia’s run chase because he was having a shower.
He said the anxiety around Test selection had not affected the mood in the Australia A dressing room.
“Everyone seems pretty normal. There’s probably been some joking around when McSweeney came on (to bowl), that he was auditioning for the Sri Lankan tour,” Rocchiccioli said.
“Everyone has been the same as what they usually are … I’m sure there might have been some nerves with some of the batters who were auditioning for a Test spot.
“But everyone held the same sort of character throughout the week. They’re a jovial bunch who like to crack some gags.”
Earlier on Saturday, lusty late-order hitting from India A meant another opportunity for the Australian Test opener candidates to impress selectors.
India A resumed at 5-73, and had Oliver Davies snared a tough outfield chance to dismiss No.6 Dhruv Jurel off the bowling of Scott Boland for 25, the match might have been done by lunch.
Instead Jurel made 68 as the India A tail wagged, with Nitish Kumar Reddy (38), Tanush Kotian (44) and Krishna (29) all contributing.
Webster took 3-49 and was named man of the match after his second-innings knock and three wickets in the first India A innings.
