Australian Test side still murky after tour match against Indians

Once, tour matches were a chance for local teams with a strong identity to try their skill against credentialled visitors. These days they’re better described as warm-up matches, in which a confected team offers Test preparation.

Where they were assessed as contests in their own right, they’re now better assessed in terms of what teams want to get out of them.

After an Australia A side shook hands on a draw with the touring Indians at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday night, it was clear the home camp had got none of what it wanted from the preparation for the upcoming day-night Test in Adelaide.

Both likely Test openers were in the A side to make runs; few runs were forthcoming. A possible Test all-rounder was substituted out with…