Chris Lynn, the Australia A captain, called the right of the side and opted to bowl, expecting his fast bowlers to exploit the seamer-friendly conditions. The rain break soon after, however, forced the match officials to reduce the third game of the series to 49 overs per side.
Kane Richardson justified Lynn's move with the early wicket of Caleb Paul Jewell, but Hilton Cartwright and Sam Heazlett steadied the innings for NPS with a 61-run stand, before Marcus Stoinis removed the latter. The former though continued to bat positively and shared another fifty partnership - with Sam Harper - for the third wicket.
Chris Tremain, who wreaked havoc against India A with a five-wicket haul, had Cartwright caught behind for 81 to trigger a collapse. From a comfortable 143 for 2, NPS slipped to 158 for 6 in no time. Michael Nesser and Sean Abbott then made a recovery of sorts with a 59-run stand for the seventh wicket. Abbott smashed four boundaries and a couple of sixes as he blasted his way to a 28-ball 44, but Tremain came back and bagged another five-for, before NPS finished their quota of 49 overs with 231 for 9 on the board.
In the second half, NPS were off to the perfect start as Abbott trapped Kurtis Patterson in front with the third ball of the chase. Lynn, however, walked in at No. 3 and counter-attacked in grand style. Just as Lynn threatened to take the game away, Abbott accounted for him to stop the leakage of runs.
Stoinis and Peter Handscomb seemed to have got things under control, but a rain break in the 9th over didn't help their case. On resumption, Australia A lost three wickets for an addition of just 10 runs to their total. Cartwright, who top-scored with the bat, bagged two in an over, including Glenn Maxwell for a silver duck, before rain stopped play again in the 20th over. At this point, NPS were 20 runs ahead by DLS method, but five more balls were needed to be completed for the rule to come into effect. The rain gods were kind enough and the game resumed with the revised target of 190 in 28 overs.
Cartwright continued his excellent show as he had Richardson caught for 9. With Cameron Bancroft and Tremain fighting hard, Australia A had an outside chance towards the end, but with 21 needed off the last over, it was a big ask for Lynn and Co. and NPS eventually went on to win the game. This is their second successive win of the tournament, having edged South Africa A in their first encounter.
Cartwright was named the Man of the Match for putting up an all-round show.
Brief scores: NPS 231 for 9 (Hilton Carthwright 81, Sean Abbott 44; Chris Tremain 5-47, Marcus Stoinis 2-25) beat AUS A 177 for 7 (Chris Lynn 42, Marcus Stoinis 42; Hilton Cartwright 3-26, Sean Abbott 2-32) by 12 runs on D/L method.
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