Holland blitz lights up intra-squad clash

Jon Holland isn't on the plane to Bangladesh on Friday but the left-arm spinner put his hand up for future selections with the quite remarkable figures of 4-1 from 1.5 overs on the third morning of Australia's intra-squad match in Darwin.

Holland had actually begun the practice match on the David Warner XI, but turned out for the Steve Smith XI this morning, with the 'rules' around this game particularly fluid in order to cater to the best preparation for Australia's two-Test tour of Bangladesh.

LIVE: Australia intra-squad match, day three

The Victorian tweaker played two Tests in Sri Lanka last year and has since been an unlucky omission from a tour of India and the upcoming Bangladesh trip, particularly after taking 50 wickets at 20.78 in last summer's Sheffield Shield. 

On a Marrara Oval pitch designed to replicate what the Australians might confront in Dhaka and Chittagong, Holland made excellent use of two days of wear and tear. 

From the first ball of the morning, he had Hilton Cartwright (0) playing indecisively, the ball looping up to a vacant spot around silly mid-off. 

Steve Smith might have missed a trick, but he moved Matt Renshaw from in close on the leg side to where the ball had just landed, and the very next ball, Cartwright obliged, fending forcefully at the ball but succeeding only in squirting it to Renshaw, who took a good catch.

Adam Zampa fell four balls later, bowled through the gate, and suddenly batsmen were scrambling to find their pads in the change room. 

Jackson Bird, who didn't bowl in the first innings due to some hip flexor tightness, got one uneventful over in from the Abala Rd End before the spotlight again returned to Holland. 

First-innings centurion Peter Handscomb (two) was next to go, caught behind, before local product and South Australia representative Jake Weatherald narrowly avoided a first-ball duck when he prodded forward and was almost caught in close, but found himself lbw two balls later for the third duck of the morning, bringing about a hasty declaration. 

In the space of 10 balls, the 30-year-old Holland had restated his case for higher honours in remarkable fashion. 

Australia in Bangladesh 2017

Australia squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Ashton Agar, Jackson Bird, Hilton Cartwright, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade.

Bangladesh squad (preliminary): Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Mahmudullah Riyad, Liton Kumar Das, Mominul Haque, Mehedi Hasan, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Subhashish Roy, Kamrul Islam Rabbi, Rubel Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Sanjamul Islam, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat, Mohammad Saifuddin, Anamul Haque, Abul Hasan Raju, Al Amin Hossain, Nasir Hossain, Muktar Ali, Tanbir Haider, Saqlain Sajib, Shafiul Islam.

11-17 August Australia pre-tour training camp, Darwin

18 August Australia arrive

22-23 August Tour match,Fatullah

27-31 August First Test, Dhaka

4-8 September Second Test, Chittagong