Sam Harper century leads Australia A fightback

A rearguard hundred from Sam Harper led Australia A's recovery after Nachiket Bhute and Shams Mulani had reduced them to 104 for 5 on day one of the second unofficial Test in Puducherry. Following partnerships of 84 for the sixth wicket with Liam Scott and 89 for the seventh with Todd Murphy, Harper went to stumps batting on 101, having steered Australia A to 282 for 7.

Other than the frustration of letting their dominant position slip, India A would have been worried by the spate of no-balls from their bowlers. Bhute bowled seven, and Mulani an astonishing 14 in 28 overs. In the first unofficial Test last week, Mulani had bowled nine no-balls across 34.1 overs while taking a match haul of 7 for 124.

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.

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.