Ponting's Test smokey blasts 200 for Aus A

Yahoo

6 days ago

Ricky Ponting put emerging star Jason Sangha's name in the Test selection mix and he duly delivered with a masterful double-hundred to come away the biggest winner of an Australia A run fest in Darwin.
The second four-day match between Australia A and Sri Lanka A was called a draw halfway through the final day when Sangha reached a maiden double century.
Sangha, an adopted South Australian, hit a century in the Sheffield Shield final in March and backed it up with an unbeaten 202 from 379 balls on Wednesday.
The 25-year-old's haul came amid a shoutout from Ponting ahead of what looms as a crucial start to the home summer for plenty of batters with at least one opening spot up for grabs in the Ashes.
'The start of the Sheffield Shield season will be an interesting one ... I'll throw another name in that I think is a highly talented Australian batsman, that's Jason Sangha,' Ponting told the ICC Review.
'I think (Sangha is) someone whose name will probably come up at some stage as well, but there's just not many games now, not many opportunities to be able to get yourself and get your name up in front of the selectors.'
Sangha made the most of batting friendly conditions, which took in 10 wickets for 1043 runs across three and a half days.
The previous match in Darwin was also a draw with only three innings played across the four days.
Sangha shared a 209-run partnership with fellow centurion Jake Weatherald and a 165-run stand with Victorian young gun Ollie Peake.
Peake finished agonisingly short of his century, dismissed for 92 off 178 deliveries.
Sangha is one of many state discards who have flourished in South Australia after he was cut from New South Wales.
His career stood at a junction at the end of the 2023-24 season when he crossed the border to become a Redback.
Sangha produced a brilliant Shield season and has since emerged as a rising star of Australian cricket.