Jaques keeps Australia A rolling

India A 254 (Badrinath 59, Uthappa 50, Johnson 4-45) and 0 for 117 (Uthappa 67*) need 365 runs to beat Australia A 4 for 461 dec and 7 for 274 dec (Jaques 117, Rogers 64, Venugopal Rao 4-79)
Scorecard

Phil Jaques capped a memorable match by adding a damaging century to his first-innings 240 as Australia A set India A an imposing 482 for victory at Cairns. The visiting openers made a positive reply, cutting the deficit by 117 at stumps, as Robin Uthappa, who survived three missed catches, posted a boundary-filled 67 and Gautam Gambhir collected 40.

In the first innings Jaques showed his fine application and today he unleashed, crashing an intimidating 117 that included seven fours and five sixes from 103 deliveries. Australia A held a lead of 207 after dismissing their opponents early in the first session, but Brad Haddin refused to enforce the follow-on and his batsmen dashed for quick runs, scoring at almost a run a ball before the declaration at 7 for 274.

The openers were again the most impressive and Jaques showed his powers of destruction in the 167-run stand while Rogers raised his second fifty of the match. Rogers departed first for 64, but Jaques continued to flex and brought up his hundred with a six that hit the grandstand.

Jaques launched two more sixes before finding Subramaniam Badrinath at cover from Venugopal Rao's offspin, and Travis Birt (10), Shaun Marsh (1) and Mark Cosgrove (18) soon followed. Rao benefited from the home team's aggressive attitude with four wickets, but he also gave up 79 runs in 12 overs. Piyush Chawla grabbed two victims before the declaration came at tea, Mitchell Johnson ending the onslaught with another shot that struck the grandstand.

Johnson and Shaun Tait cleaned up the India A innings within seven overs this morning as Johnson claimed 4 for 45 and Tait picked up 3 for 67. Parthiv Patel, the former Test wicketkeeper, opened with a couple of fours and a six in his 43, but the visitors were all out for 254.