Xavier Crone is making his name in Australian cricket as an opening bowler, but on Tuesday he showed he has plenty of talent with the bat.
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Playing for the Cricket Australia XI against the touring England Lions side in a one-day match on the Gold Coast, Crone top-scored with a fine 66 off 82 balls.
Batting at number nine, the Bendigo cricket strode to the crease with the CA XI in all sorts of trouble at 7-76 in the 22nd over.
Crone combined with former Australian Test opener Marcus Harris for a 36-run stand for the eighth wicket before left-hander Harris fell for 45.
Crone was the dominant player in a crucial 23-run stand with number 10 Matthew Kuhnemann (6) and a 44-run final-wicket partnership with Blake Edwards (14 not out)
After hitting seven boundaries and two sixes, Crone was the last man out with the score on 179.
He followed up his batting heroics by striking early with the ball in the England Lions innings.
Crone clean bowled opener Tom Kohler-Cadmore for just seven.
Crone finished with figures of 1-32 off six overs as the tourists won by four wickets with nine overs to spare.
Game three of the one-day series will be played on Thursday.
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Meanwhile, former BDCA players James Seymour, Brayden Stepien and Sam Elliott were all in action for the Victorian second XI on day two of the four-day match with ACT-NSW Country at Casey Fields.
Elliott claimed 1-33 off 12 overs and Stepien took two catches behind the stumps as the Vics dismissed ACT-NSW Country for 297.
That left Victoria with a lead of 21 runs on the first innings.
Victoria started its second innings late on day two, with Seymour opening with skipper Travis Dean.
Seymour, who made 67 in the first innings, and Dean played out 10 overs to guide Victoria to 0-30 at stumps - an overall lead of 51.
Seymour will resume on 18 not out on Wednesday.
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