Campbell Kellaway in action against England XI (Source: AFP)
Prime Minister’s XI ended up in a good position at the end of day 1 of the two-day warm-up game against the England XI. The game is being played at the Manuka Oval in Canberra ahead of the second Ashes between Australia and England at the Gabba in Brisbane from December 4 onwards.
PM XI’s skipper Peter Handscomb won the toss and asked his batters to take charge. The opening pair of Sam Konstas and Campbell Kellaway lived up to their captain’s expectations and stitched an opening partnership of 85 runs in 22.2 overs. England XI skipper Tom Haines broke this partnership, getting Konstas (36 runs off 53 balls) caught by Matthew Potts on the third ball of the 23rd over.
Kellaway continued to stay there in the middle and stitched and stitched another crucial partnership of 45 runs for the second wicket with Nathan McSweeney. Kellaway played a brilliant knock of 82 runs, with eight fours and two sixes. The 23-year-old drew the eyes of the selectors to keep a check on him as one of the potential Test openers for Australia in future.
McSweeney, Peake hit half-centuries to take PM XI post-300
Following Kellaway’s 82-run knock, McSweeney also contributed with 63 runs, followed by Oliver Peake’s 54 runs off 92 balls, with five fours. Later in the innings, wicketkeeper-batter Joel Curtis’ 33-run knock helped the PM XI post 308/8 before declaring their first innings.
Matthew Potts, Tom Haines, and Tom Hartley shared six wickets between them, picking up two wickets each. Besides this trio, Josh Hull and Jacob Bethell also claimed a wicket each.
In response to PM XI’s 308/8 in the first innings, England XI batted for five overs before the end of first day’s play. The opening pair of Emilio Gay and Tom Haines scored quick 30 runs for no loss, with an amazing run rate of 6.00. Emilio Gay scored 12 runs off 15 balls, with three fours, alongside Hains scoring 17 runs off just 15 balls, hitting four fours. At the end of the first day, England XI were trailing by 278 runs.
