Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Mahli Beardman has ramped up his return to cricket with four wickets against India A, as a Nathan McSweeney century helped Australia A to a 125-run one-day win.
Playing just his third match since a stress injury in his back ended last season early, Beardman took three wickets from his first 12 balls on Tuesday and finished with 4-23.
The speedster’s wickets marked a triumphant day for Australia A, with McSweeney hitting 123 in the tourists’ 274, before India A were all out for 149 in reply in Puducherry.
Beardman has long been earmarked as a future Australian talent, and even debuted against Pakistan last January in Lahore before being struck down by injury.
“Unfortunately I have had a few now and done this before,” Beardman said.
“There is always that unknown about what is going to happen with your body to withstand the workloads again and get back to how you were bowling before.
“But I was lucky enough I was in some decent rhythm in the Big Bash and leading into Pakistan before my injury (which helped).”
The 21-year-old’s haul came after figures of 0-29 and 0-42 in his first two one-day games back for Western Australia at the WACA last week.
“It was awesome to be back,” Beardman said.
“It’s only my third game back, so still feeling a little bit underdone. But it was great to just get out there and compete.
“Any time you get to represent your country, regardless of what in, it’s an absolute honour.”
Meanwhile, McSweeney’s 123 came after he was overlooked for a late call-up to Australia’s Test squad for the South Africa series.
He had scores of 0, 35, 34 and 36 in the recent first-class matches against India A, where none of the batters successfully pushed their case for Test selection.
“It would have been nice to see some runs in that A series (from Test hopefuls), but I think they were tricky conditions watching from afar,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said on Tuesday.
“I saw some dismissals in the second innings of the first game where the ball didn’t bounce a hell of a lot.”
