Australia A complete big win over Sussex

Australia A continued their dominant tour of England with a comprehensive 10-wicket win over Sussex in their four-day clash in Arundel.

It took just six balls for openers Marcus Harris (12no) and Joe Burns to knock off the 11 runs they required on the morning of day four after taking all 10 Sussex second innings wickets in the final session on Tuesday.

The emphatic win was set up by twin hundreds from Burns and Harris and key hauls from returning paceman James Pattinson and seamer Jackson Bird.

Burns batted more than five-and-a-half hours for his 133 having arrived in England less than a week ago having sufficiently recovered from a chronic fatigue disorder he'd been battling since the start of last summer.

The right-hander shared a 214-run opening stand with Harris, who scored 109, his 12th first-class century, as the pair displayed their fine form in front of national selector Trevor Hohns. Both batsmen hit 18 boundaries.

With the ball, Pattinson ran through Sussex' top order in the first innings in his first game in Australian colours on more than three years.

The 29-year-old has fought his way into Ashes reckoning after suffering a series of back injuries since his last Test against New Zealand in February 2016.

Pattinson collected 4-60 and 3-12 in the match, bowling with the pace and aggression he's become renowned for.

In Sussex's second innings, Bird's spell of 3-4 in two overs broke the game open before Pattinson and Jon Holland combined to take the final five wickets and bundle out the hosts for 130 in 40.4 overs.

 

Image Id: E808267941584514890BAD15B29BCD36 Image Caption: James Pattinson celebrates a wicket for Australia A // Getty

 

"Great to get the tour off with a winning start," Australia A captain Tim Paine told cricket.com.au after play.

"All our bowlers in particular were quite impressive by the end of the game and we saw some hundreds from Harris and Burns, so it was good."

While the win was emphatic and completed in less than 210 overs, Australia A lost 7-60 after cruising at 3-313.

The second new ball proved the downfall for the tourists, who lost those seven wickets in the space of 14 overs.

"We didn’t quite nail it after that big partnership," said Paine.

"There are some guys who haven't  played cricket for months and there's a bit of rust and lack of time in the middle and that can happen.

"We’ve got another game next week and what we want to see is continual improvement leading into the first Test."

All five bowlers had a solid hit-out, with spearhead Josh Hazlewood the only bowler not to take a wicket but the veteran improved and beat the bat with each spell.

Australia A now travel to Canterbury for Sunday's four-day clash with England Lions at the Spitfire Ground.

Get live scores and all the latest news from Australia A's tour of the UK on cricket.com.au and the CA Live app

Australia A one-day squad: Travis Head (c), Matthew Wade, Will Pucovski, Peter Handscomb, Mitch Marsh (vc), D'Arcy Short, Kurtis Patterson, Ashton Agar, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Josh Hazlewood (vc), Sean Abbott, Andrew Tye

Australia A four-day squad: Tim Paine (c), Marcus Harris, Kurtis Patterson, Will Pucovski, Travis Head (vc), Peter Handscomb, Matthew Wade, Mitch Marsh, Michael Neser, Jon Holland, James Pattinson, Jackson Bird, Josh Hazlewood (vc), Chris Tremain

One-day fixtures:

June 20: Australia A beat Northamptonshire by six wickets

June 23: Australia A beat Derbyshire by seven wickets

June 25: Australia A v Worcestershire, match abandoned

June 30: Australia A beat Gloucestershire by five wickets

July 2: Australia A beat Gloucestershire by nine runs

Four-day fixtures:

July 7-10: Australia A v Sussex, Arundel

July 13-16: Australia A v England Lions, Canterbury

July 23-26: Australia v Australia A, Hampshire