Gold Coast, Aug 23
On a swinging day of red-ball cricket action in the unofficial four-day game, India 'A' captain, off-spinner Minnu Mani and Australia 'A' pacer Kate Peterson took five-wicket hauls each at the Kerrydale Oval on Friday.
But Maddy Darke's unbeaten 54 not out has meant Australia 'A' are slightly ahead as they reached 164/7 in their second innings at stumps and are currently leading India 'A' by 192 runs. On a day in which 15 wickets fell, Kate's 5-16 helped Australia 'A' take a slender 28-run lead after bowling out India 'A' for 184.
India 'A' started Friday at the overnight score of 100/2, but suffered early blows as Kate dismissed overnight batters Tejal Hasabnis (32), and Shweta Sehrawat (40), before removing Sajana Sajeevan for a duck -- all three within eight deliveries.
Kate completed her five-wicket haul by removing Uma Chetry, and with Raghvi Bist getting run out, it left India 'A' in tatters at 128/7. Crucial contributions from Minnu Mani (17) and Mannat Kashyap (19) ensured India 'A' crossed 180 but failed to get past Australia 'A' first-innings total of 212.
Batting with a narrow first-innings lead, Australia 'A' were on the back foot from the word go when Minnu dismissed Georgia Voll and Charli Knott for consecutive ducks, leaving the hosts at zero for two. It needed a patient Emma de Broughe's 58 off 117 balls to bring Australia 'A' on track, despite Minnu taking out Nicole Faltum and Tess Flintoff in quick succession.
Emma and Maddy had a 43-run stand for the fifth wicket, before leg-spinner Priya Mishra came in to dismiss the former. While bringing up her half-century, Maddy added 54 runs for the sixth wicket with Maitlan Brown (26), before the latter became Minnu's fifth victim of the innings and propelling the India 'A' captain to complete her match haul of ten wickets on a roller-coaster day of red-ball cricket.
Brief scores:
Australia 'A' 212 and 164/7 in 60 overs (Emma de Broughe 58, Maddy Darke 54 not out, Minnu Mani 5-47) lead India A 184 all out in 73.1 overs (Shweta Sehrawat 40, Kate Peterson 5-16) by 192 runs