Australia A 282 for 7 (Harper 101*, Sangha 46, Bhute 3-35, Mulani 3-77) vs India A
Harper, the 29-year-old Victoria keeper-batter, has played at the senior level for over a decade, but this was his first first-class match outside the Sheffield Shield and outside Australia. Having walked into a crisis, he batted with freedom, using his feet regularly to the spinners, and got to his half-century in 65 balls, and his hundred – his sixth in first-class cricket – in 146. He hit seven fours and three sixes.
Australia are currently without a reserve wicketkeeper in South Africa following the finger injury sustained by Josh Inglis during the ODI series.
Scott (34 off 82 deliveries) and Murphy (33 off 91) played supporting roles in Australia A’s recovery, and the visitors will hope Harper can rally the lower order on the second morning to push their total a significant distance past 300.
Their outlook had looked far less positive at the start of the match after they had opted to bat first, as Vidarbha seamer Bhute and Mumbai left-arm spinner Mulani reduced them to 16 for 3 in 12 overs. The first shoots of a fightback came from Nathan McSweeney (34 off 76 balls) and Jason Sangha, who put on 81 for the fourth wicket before Sangha edged Mulani behind when he was four runs short of a half-century.
McSweeney fell soon after, miscuing an attempted big hit off Mulani to mid-on, and bringing Harper to the crease.
