Youngsters stun Aus A in Darwin

The future of Australian cricket shone through at Marrara Oval today, as Cricket Australia's National Performance Squad pulled off a comprehensive upset against Australia A in their quadrangular one-day series clash.

The 52-run win proves the young stars aren't in the Northern Territory just to make up the numbers, picking up a bonus point to go with the shock win.

Chasing 253, Australia A were seemingly cruising at 3-157 in the 34th over before promising leg-spinner James Muirhead took the big scalp of Chris Lynn for 52.

Tasmania quick Sam Rainbird then struck twice in the next over and the more experienced of the two sides were suddenly reeling at 6-165.

The future stars completed the job with few troubles and 28 balls to spare.

It was well and truly an even contribution from the NPS players, but Cameron Bancroft's second consecutive half-century was the standout batting performance and Sean Abbott chimed in with three wickets to go with his knock of 33.

"We had the belief coming into this game that we could cause an upset," NPS skipper Jordan Silk said after play.

"I can't single out anyone in particular, I thought we were all pretty good.

"I thought everyone's effort was fantastic. I think our big quicks Simon Mackin and Sam Rainbird were very good up front and again through the middle."

Silk's opposing captain Cameron White dismissed any suggestions of complacency from his side, making the point ahead of the series that the young squad were well prepared after many weeks at the National Cricket Centre during the winter.

"We've spoken a lot about attitude and effort throughout the build-up and even today, so we knew what we were in for," White told cricket.com.au after play.

"At the end of the day we didn't perform well enough and were outplayed.

"They're in the National Performance Squad for a reason, they're good players as well."

The Australia A skipper was adamant changes would be made for Thursday's clash against South Africa A, but said it wouldn't be in direct response to the shock defeat.

"There will be changes in every game because there are workloads, injuries and things like that," he said.

"Seven games in 13 days is a fair bit of cricket, coming off the four-day games as well, so there's no point risking injury or anything like at the moment."

Cricket Australia later confirmed that Chris Lynn will be heading home to Queensland after experiencing pain in his left shoulder, with Victoria's Marcus Stoinis coming into the Australia A squad as his replacement.

That follows news earlier today that NPS spinner Ashton Agar has been ruled out for the remainder of the quadrangular series in Darwin due to a knee injury. 

Earlier, Pat Cummins eased his way into Aussie colours, showing glimpses of the pace and ability that saw him burst on to the international stage back in 2011.

Cummins, who finished with 1-29 from eight overs, brought about a rare sight in limited-overs cricket when skipper Cameron White placed two fielders in close under the batsman's nose during the 27th over of the NPS innings.

Abbott's brutal cameo, combined with Bancroft's brisk half-century, helped the young squad smash 82 from the final 10 overs to finish with 8-252.

Coincidentally, it was the same total Australia A posted in their 28-run win over India A on Sunday.

White and Doolan made a cautious start to the run chase, thanks to some disciplined bowling from Rainbird and WA quick Simon Mackin.

The skipper was dismissed edging one to Short at first slip for 26, but Doolan further demonstrated his ability against the white ball, compiling a composed innings of 55 to go with his 96 against India A in the opening match of the series.

Tom Cooper failed to make the most of his call-up to the squad, providing Short with another catch to depart for three.

Australia A looked in complete control of the contest with Doolan and Lynn at the crease, but the collapse of 7-43 ensured the NPS players would celebrate their first victory of the series.

"They did build that (Lynn-Doolan) partnership, but we knew that we were only one or two wickets away from opening the game up," Silk said.

"We still had the belief at that stage, while we weren't taking wickets, we were still minimising that boundary ball and we weren't letting them get away from us too far.

"We had a lot of belief coming into this tournament that we weren't just here to make up the numbers.

"We're here to win games of cricket and it doesn't stop here either, we want to go on now and keep this winning feeling going."

In today's other match at Gardens Oval, India A convincingly defeated South Africa A by 70 runs to bounce back from Sunday's defeat to Australia A.

Manish Pandey (91) and Manoj Tiwary (93) starred with the bat in India A's innings of 7-326, before Dhawal Kulkarni took 5-54 to do the damage with the ball.

Marchant de Lange claimed five wickets of his own, while Reeza Hendricks' knock of 52 wasn't enough as South Africa A were bowled out for 256.

For all the news, scores and video from the Australia A Tour, stay right here on cricket.com.au.