Handscomb, Swepson power Australia A to 10-wicket win
Australia A captain Peter Handscomb scored 137 in a thumping 10-wicket win over South Africa A as his side swept the unofficial Test series 2-0
ESPNcricinfo staff
09-Aug-2016
Australia A 402 (Handscomb 137, Patterson 92, Phehlukwayo 3-70) and 0 for 85 (Patterson 50*) beat South Africa A 304 (Ramela 82, Mennie 5-61, Swepson 3-55) and 180 (Swepson 4-33) by 10 wickets
Australia A captain Peter Handscomb scored his eighth first-class century to give his side a 98-run first-innings lead and set up a thumping 10-wicket win over South Africa A in the second unofficial Test in Townsville. The win meant that Australia A emerged with a clean sweep of the two-match series.
South Africa A had elected to bat, and started very slowly, with the openers putting on 26 runs in the best part of 15 overs before Dean Elgar departed for 5 off 40. Stephen Cook and Omphile Ramela both notched up fifties in a second-wicket partnership of 83. Ramela went on to score 82 off 199 and served as the top-order ballast in South Africa A's first innings. But right-arm pacer Joe Mennie and legspinner Mitchell Swepson finished with figures of 5 for 61 and 3 for 55 respectively to limit South Africa A to 304.
Australia A piled on 402 in reply, largely thanks to Handscomb's 137 and a knock of 92 from opener Kurtis Patterson. The two put on 114 for the second wicket, before right-arm pacer Andile Phehlukwayo dismissed Patterson eight runs short of a century. Handscomb batted on, while useful contributions from the middle and lower order gave the home side to a healthy lead.
Faced with a first-innings deficit of 98, South Africa A slumped to 180 all out in their second innings, with no one making more than Dane Vilas' 36. Vilas was one of four batsmen to fall to Swepson in the second innings, as the 22-year-old finished with 4 for 33, to take his match haul to seven.
Australia A had little trouble in chasing down a target of 83. Patterson registered his second fifty of the match as the openers swept past the finish line in 15 overs.
South Africa A's series defeat here comes on the heels of a two-match series against Zimbabwe A in which they failed to win the first unofficial Test in Harare, before winning the second in Bulawayo. For the likes of Dean Elgar and Temba Bavuma, this series was the last chance to prepare for an upcoming home Test series against New Zealand.