Labuschagne, Swepson and Renshaw star for Australia A

Australia’s ODI bowling depth looks healthy ahead of next year’s World Cup, with Ashton Agar, Mitchell Swepson, Jhye Richardson and Billy Stanlake all performing impressively for Australia A in the past few days.

Australia A defeated South Africa A by 32 runs in Bangalore yesterday, making five for 322 from their 50 overs and then dismissing their opponents for 290.

South Africa A were cruising at zero for 89 in the 13th over before the Australian spinners derailed their innings.

All-rounder Travis Head grabbed two wickets in as many overs before Agar and Swepson suffocated the South African batsmen. The Queensland leggie scythed through South Africa A’s middle-to-lower order as he grabbed three for 40 from ten overs.

Agar, meanwhile, was very frugal, finishing with one for 36 from ten overs after being similarly economical against India A when he took one for 37 from ten overs.

The West Australian spin all-rounder has been one of the few positives to come out of what has been a grim year for Australia so far in limited overs cricket. Agar has shown signs he may be able to hold down a frontline spin spot in both ODIs and T20Is, while also adding considerable value with the bat.

(AFP, Saeed Khan)

That all-round ability has been evident in this tournament in India, with Agar hitting 34 in the first match and then yesterday crashing 17 not out from just four balls to help push Australia A well over 300. The other man who added a flourish to Australia A’s innings yesterday was Matt Renshaw, batting in a new middle order role as I predicted last week.

Renshaw gave himself a couple of overs to get his eye in and then began peppering the boundary to finish unbeaten on 42 from 29 balls. The 22-year-old scored runs freely from both spin and pace, compiling the sort of finishing knock which Australia have been missing all too often in ODIs in recent years.

Earlier, Australia A captain Travis Head continued his fine recent form in 50-over cricket by making 110 from the first drop. Head has now scored 450 runs at 50 across his past ten matches for Australia and Australia A this year.

He had good partnerships with opener D’Arcy Short (49 from 56 balls) and gifted young Queenslander Marnus Labuschagne (65 from 67 balls). Making his debut for Australia A, the 24-year-old Labuschagne was notably fluent against spin through the middle overs of Australia’s innings.

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It was a good batting comeback by Australia A after their awful display against India A, who rolled them for 151 on Thursday. Australia A batted first in that match, but only Agar (34) and Head (28) managed to pass 20. That looked to be the easiest of chases for India A, but they were made to labour for victory by 21-year-old Richardson and 23-year-old Stanlake, who both bowled with great pace and accuracy during their new ball spell.

They bowled in tandem for the first 13 overs, reducing India A to three for 29. Then, with the first ball of the 14th over, Agar removed Shreyas Iyer leaving India A in a mess at four for 29. But a patient stand of 109 between Ambati Rayudu (62no) and Krunal Pandya (49) ended the Australian resistance.

With Australia’s history of being plagued by injuries to fast bowlers, it is crucial they build some pace depth ahead of the World Cup in case stars Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins suffer fitness issues.

They should be greatly encouraged by the signs shown by rookies Richardson and Stanlake this year. Both quicks look to have the ability to develop into quality limited-overs international cricketers.