Australian bowlers rip through RCA

Australia's batsmen, barring Simon Katich, may have struggled on the first day but their bowlers were clinical in routing Rajasthan Cricket Academy's Centre for Excellence for 122 on the final day of their warm-up match in Jaipur. Five of the six bowlers used, Mitchell Johnson being the exception, picked up wickets and the game was called off after RCA were dismissed about an hour after lunch.

Brett Lee and Stuart Clark had collected a wicket each to reduce RCA to 38 for 2 by stumps on the first day and Lee struck first on the second morning, trapping the captain Venugopal Rao lbw for 20. The Victoria fast bowler Peter Siddle had the other overnight batsman Gagan Khoda caught behind for 33 to reduce RCA to 57 for 4.

Offspinner Jason Krejza and left-arm fast bowler Doug Bollinger mopped up the rest of the batsmen. Bollinger finished with figures of 3 for 9 off 9.2 overs while Krejza picked up 3 for 35. The Australians had a practice session after the game was called off and Siddle said the whole package had given the team a strong warm-up.

"We had a bit of a bowl, and they (the batsmen) had a bit of a hit and just adapting to the wickets so just warming into it and getting ready for the series," Siddle told AAP. "The week here has been excellent, an opportunity to acclimatise, get used to the weather, get used to the wickets, there was a good range at the academy."

Siddle finished with 1 for 7 from his six overs and he was pleased to get a run in the opening game. He said his right shoulder, which was reconstructed following last season's Pura Cup final, was not causing him any problems.

"The shoulder's feeling great, it's been about seven months now and it's just good to be out there and having a bowl and getting back into it," he said. "I've played a few matches now so it's feeling good and I'm feeling really confident that it's going to hold up and go well."

Australia's next tour match is against a Board President's XI in Hyderabad from October 2 to 5. The first Test starts in Bangalore on October 9.