Australia A humbled by NP Squad in Townsville

The National Performance Squad has claimed victory over their more experienced Australia A counterparts by 12-runs in a remarkable finish to a rain-affected see-sawing affair.

For the second time in as many matches, the development side humbled a national 'A' squad, following their 17-run win against South Africa A last Saturday, but this occasion saw rain play force the teams off three times from unseasonal Townsville downpours.

For the second-straight game, Australia A and Victorian paceman Chris Tremain grabbed a five-wicket haul, this time claiming 5-47 from nine overs and once again dismantling the opposition’s middle-order. 

Tremain was back at his damaging best, collecting three wickets in five balls in a carbon copy of his performance against India A on Sunday.

But it was the National Performance Squad who held their nerve largely through Hilton Cartwright – who top scored with 81 and took 3-26 to earn player of the match honours – and came away with the victory.

Earlier, Cartwright and Harper (25) combined for a 63-run third-wicket stand after century maker Sam Heazlett (20) patiently edged the score forward.

Sean Abbott (44) and Michael Neser (30) added valuable runs in the lower-order to boost the total to 9-231, combating the rampant Tremain and dispatching him for a pair of huge sixes.

After losing the in-form Kurtis Patterson (0) in the first over, Chris Lynn took matters into his own hands for Australia A with rain approaching, smashing 42 from just 21 balls to surge ahead of the run rate.

But when Lynn was caught going for one boundary too many, Cartwright removed the dangerous pair of Alex Ross (2) and Glenn Maxwell (0) within three balls to swing the momentum back to the development side.

From there it was a tough mountain to climb for the Australia A squad, needing nearly 20 runs from each over to move ahead of the required score for the D/L method, a target that was ultimately unattainable.

The National Performance Squad remain the only undefeated team in the competition with each of the ‘A’ sides all suffering losses in the early stages of the series.