Cricket: New Zealand A defeat Australia A by 225 runs in Brisbane as Black Caps thumped

New Zealand A have flogged Australia A by 225 runs in Brisbane after strong performances by Sean Solia and Scott Kuggeleijn.

It comes as the Black Caps were handed a heavy defeat in their opening Twenty20 clash with England at Chester-le-Street this morning.

Bowled out for 147 on day one, the New Zealand A side turned the match on its head and took the final eight wickets today for just 96 runs. Cameron Bancroft made the only meaningful effort with 47, with the Australians bowled out for 127 in their second innings.

“We obviously had a really good first day, but then we got outplayed from that moment onwards,” Bancroft told Cricket.com.au.

“Our batting wasn’t quite good enough - they were just able to control us and we probably didn’t hang in there quite long enough - and our bowling was just a bit off; we weren’t able to build pressure, and they hurt us.”

Australia resumed in the morning at Allan Border Field at 31-1 with a further 322 runs needed to take the win. First-innings top-scorer Caleb Jewell scored quickly with 15 from 13 balls but was undone by a short bouncer from Kuggeleijn from outside off stump that went straight to Josh Clarkson at deep backward square leg.

From there, the home side lost 37-4 inside 15 overs to put themselves out of the contest.

Solia was a standout. After making 91 from the top order in New Zealand’s second innings, the right-arm medium pacer added to his first-innings figures of 38-2 from 13 overs with the wickets of Nathan McSweeney (7), Campbell Kellaway (1) and Jimmy Peirson (8).

“That was the first time I’d faced him, and he bowled nicely,” Bancroft said. “From one end he had a really nice crack for the right-handers [on the pitch] which was offering a little bit, and he wasn’t quick but he had some nice skills and was able to move the ball off the wicket and swing it both ways. He was tough work out there.”

The two sides meet again for a second four-day fixture in Mackay on September 4.

Second innings fall of wickets

• 1-15 Tim Ward (c: Cam Fletcher b: Brett Randell, 5.3 ov)
• 2-43 Caleb Jewell (c: Josh Clarkson b: Scott Kuggeleijn, 12.5 ov)
• 3-64 Nathan McSweeney (lbw: Sean Solia, 19.6 ov)
• 4-70 Campbell Kellaway (c: Nick Kelly b: Sean Solia, 23.2 ov)
• 5-80 Jimmy Peirson (lbw: Sean Solia, 27.3 ov)
• 6-112 Mitchell Perry (b: Scott Kuggeleijn, 35.3 ov)
• 7-113 Cameron Bancroft (lbw: Scott Kuggeleijn, 37.1 ov)
• 8-121 Mark Steketee (c: Henry Cooper b: Jacob Duffy, 38.1 ov)
• 9-127 Mitchell Swepson (c: Henry Cooper b: Scott Kuggeleijn, 39.6 ov)

Australia A one-day squad: Wes Agar, Ollie Davies, Ben Dwarshuis, Liam Hatcher, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Ben McDermott, Todd Murphy, Josh Philippe, Matthew Renshaw, Gurinder Sandhu, Matt Short, Mark Steketee, Will Sutherland, Ashton Turner

New Zealand A squad (both formats): Muhammad Abbas, Adi Ashok, Tom Bruce (c), Leo Carter, Josh Clarkson, Henry Cooper, Jacob Duffy, Cam Fletcher, Dean Foxcroft, Mitch Hay, Scott Kuggeleijn, Will O’Rourke, Ajaz Patel, Michael Rae, Brett Randell, Tim Seifert, Sean Solia

First one-dayer: September 10, Great Barrier Reef Arena

Second one-dayer: September 13, Allan Border Field (D/N)

Third one-dayer: September 15, Allan Border Field

Luke Kirkness is an Online Sports Editor for the NZ Herald. He previously covered consumer affairs for the Herald and was an assistant news director in the Bay of Plenty. He won Student Journalist of the Year in 2019.