Wobbly batting stocks exposed

Australia’s paper-thin batting stocks were brutally exposed by the touring Pakistanis in Perth.

Australia A’s Usman Khawaja is caught behind in the tour match against Pakistan in Perth

A star-studded Australia A side has crumbled to 122 all out in a calamitous tour match performance against Pakistan in Perth.

At one stage the hosts were 9-57 but were rescued by Cameron Bancroft (49) and Riley Meredith (19no) in a 65-run stand for the 10th wicket.

Opener Joe Burns was clean-bowled for a golden duck and fellow Test hopefuls Marcus Harris, Usman Khawaja, Travis Head and Will Pucovski also fell cheaply as Australia A endured a disastrous session on day two of the pink-ball clash. Veteran seamer Imran Khan snared 5-32 on a day that is sure to give national coach Justin Langer and chief selector Trevor Hohns headaches.

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At the MCG, Australia’s locked-in No 3 Marnus Labuschagne laboured for 28 deliveries on a tricky MCG pitch before Peter Siddle had him caught without scoring. Only Steve Smith’s 103 for NSW against Western Australia at the SCG and Tasmanian Matthew Wade’s unusually cautious 53 not out from 147 balls against South Australia gave selectors something to smile about.

Langer and Hohns will sit down on Wednesday to pick their squad for the first Test, and the hosts’ collapse after Pakistan had batted for four sessions is certain to cause consternation. Australia A’s quicks had little assistance from the pitch or pink ball on day one but the wicket appeared to have since livened up significantly. Imran skittled Burns with his first delivery before Shaheen Afridi cleaned up Harris (16) with a superb off-cutter.

Harris is the incumbent Test opener but his inconsistency has potentially opened the door for Bancroft to partner David Warner at the Gabba.

Head (13) and Khawaja (6) both fell to the part-time offspin of Iftikhar Ahmed, Head picking out backward point and Khawaja caught behind.

Imran then found the edge of Pucovski (5), who had been duelling with Head to claim the vacant middle-order spot in Australia’s Test side. Australia A skipper Alex Carey chopped on to an Imran delivery for a seventh- ball duck.

The collapse comes despite Pakistan being a bowler down with 16-year-old quick Naseem Shah withdrawn following the overnight death of his mother. The tourists opted not to replace Naseem, preferring to retain the tour match’s first-class status.

Led by tailender Yasir Shah (53), Pakistan added 92 runs in the opening session after Babar Azam (157) and Asad Shafiq (119) retired overnight.

AAP