Proteas happy with warm-up against Australia A

Sydney: The Proteas batsmen are happy with their practice session after they exploited the flat batting conditions at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) to finish on 128 for 1 on the second day of the three-day warm-up match against Australia A on Saturday, after the hosts declared on 480/7.

Hashim Amla (25*) and JP Duminy (2*) are the overnight batsmen, following the dismissal of Alviro Petersen, who was caught off a leading edge for 38. Skipper Graeme Smith scored a brisk 60 off 84 balls, after which he retired, as he looked to give the rest of the line-up opportunities, while Australia A`s batsmen added 155 runs to their overnight score, with Alex Doolan finishing unbeaten on his highest first-class score of 161. Doolan and Tim Paine partnered in a record 162-run eighth-wicket partnership, in tough bowling conditions. "All our seamers got a bowl and Imran (Tahir) got a long bowl, which is exactly what we wanted, so everything has been good," Sport24 quoted Amla, as saying. The rest of the batters will be looking to capitalise on some middle time with AB de Villiers, Jacques Rudolph and Faf du Plessis the main batsmen to come. "Time in the middle is invaluable, no matter what the state of the wicket. Graeme (Smith), Alviro (Petersen) and I would without a doubt take the middle practice over a net practice. There is no practice like match practice and fortunately it has been good for us,” Amla continued. ANI