{"id":910521,"date":"2026-09-30T03:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T03:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/910521\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T03:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T03:06:16","slug":"cricket-news-2026-sam-konstas-josh-philippe-nathan-mcsweeney-fail-sam-harper-century-india-a-v-australia-a-scores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/910521\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket news 2026: Sam Konstas, Josh Philippe, Nathan McSweeney fail, Sam Harper century, India A v Australia A scores"},"content":{"rendered":"

A slew of Aussie Test<\/a> hopefuls have yet again failed to sell themselves as genuine selection options for next year\u2019s away series against India<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the first day of a second four-day match between India and Australia\u2019s A teams in Thuthipet, southern India, skipper Peter Handscomb<\/a>\u2019s decision to bat first immediately backfired when his side was reduced to 3-16 after 12 overs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sam Konstas, pictured in a Sheffield Shield game in March, has failed to make the most of another Test audition in India.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

Openers Sam Konstas<\/a> and Josh Philippe<\/a> both fell for single-digit scores, before former Test batter Handscomb also fell for a 15-ball duck.<\/p>\n

Nathan McSweeney<\/a> and Jason Sangha<\/a> put on 81 for the fourth wicket before Sangha was caught behind four short of a half-century. When McSweeney followed for 34 two overs later, the Aussies were once again teetering at 5-104.<\/p>\n

But the innings was rescued by a century from keeper-batter Sam Harper, who brought up his ton with a boundary in the second last over of the day.<\/p>\n

Harper, playing in his first first-class match outside the Sheffield Shield<\/a> and outside Australia, batted for the rest of the day in strong partnerships with Liam Scott (34 from 82), and spinner Todd Murphy<\/a> (33 from 91) as the Aussies ended the day 7-282.<\/p>\n

The series is being viewed as something of an audition for the Australia men\u2019s Test team\u2019s five-match tour of the subcontinent starting late January.<\/p>\n

But it has not gone to plan for anyone. The Aussies were soundly beaten in the first match last week, going down by 162 runs.<\/p>\n

Crucially, none of the Aussie batters scored a half-century and of the bowlers, Todd Murphy (7-125) was the only one to make impressions in both innings.<\/p>\n

Konstas made scores of 25 and 20, while Philippe \u2013 albeit batting at No.6 \u2013 made 14 and 7. Young all-rounder Campbell Kellaway made 2 and 0 opening with Konstas and was dropped for the second match.<\/p>\n

This latest innings could put Harper in the conversation for a trip to South Africa<\/a>, given the senior side is without a reserve wicket keeper after Josh Inglis was sent home from the tour after suffering a finger injury in the second ODI<\/a>.<\/p>\n

An Australia A women’s team is also currently touring India. At stumps on the first day of a sole four-day match in Punjab, the hosts are 9-351.<\/p>\n

Lilly Mills and Charli Knott were the pick of the Aussie bowlers with three wickets each, while Tess Flintoff, Milly Illingworth and Frankie Nicklin chipped in with a pole each.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A slew of Aussie Test hopefuls have yet again failed to sell themselves as genuine selection options for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":910522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-910521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=910521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/910522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=910521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=910521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=910521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}