Fast bowler’s 6 for 58 helped Australia A eke out a four-run first-innings lead

AAP09-Apr-2023

Jordan Buckingham picked up his career best six-for•Getty Images

Young quick Jordan Buckingham claimed six wickets to give Australia A a marginal first-innings lead in their unofficial Test against a New Zealand side.On the finest day of his first-class career, Buckingham took 6 for 58 to help dismiss New Zealand A for 246 in reply to Australia A’s 253.The visitors then went to stumps on day two of four in Canterbury at 59 for 1, with Matt Renshaw on 20 and Campbell Kellaway 29.But the day belonged to 23-year-old Buckingham, who was a late call-up to the tour squad after Joel Paris was injured. He claimed the first six wickets of New Zealand A’s innings, moving the ball subtly and claiming outside edges at will.His pick of the deliveries was a hooping in-swinger to Tom Bruce, taking the right-hander’s outside edge to have him caught at slip by Renshaw.The return marked Buckingham’s first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket, after he made his debut for South Australia at the end of the 2022-23 season.Legspinner Mitchell Swepson also bagged two wickets in the innings while Renshaw claimed 2 for 32 with his offspinners.