Perry falls as Australia trail India by 31 runs at tea
Steve Barrett |
Tahlia McGrath has put herself within striking distance of twin half-centuries but India have captured the huge scalp of Ellyse Perry to have Australia 3-156 and trailing by 31 runs at tea on day three of the one-off Test at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
McGrath (46no) and Perry (45) looked completely assured during their 84-run stand which was finally broken late in the second session on Saturday.
Perry, who had endured an uncharacteristically poor match to date – castled for four on the opening morning before delivering four expensive overs and dropping a simple catch – finally showed her class before tickling offspinner Sneh Rana (2-44) down legside to wicketkeeper Yastika Bhatia.
New vice-captain McGrath – who starred in Australia’s first-innings 219 with a sparkling 50 – and captain Alyssa Healy have plenty of work ahead of them to deny India’s push for their first ever women’s Test victory over Australia.
Before McGrath and Perry joined forces, Australia had lost both their openers in needless fashion.
A napping Beth Mooney (33) showed a complete lack of awareness, wandering out of her crease and being run out by debutant Richa Ghosh from silly point, before Phoebe Litchfield (18) was bowled attempting to reverse-sweep Rana.
India resumed at 7-376 overnight before advancing to their highest score against Australia and their fourth biggest ever in the format.
Offspinning allrounder Deepti Sharma (78) spearheaded India’s tremendous lower-order rearguard, well supported by Pooja Vastrakar (47).
After coming together at 7-274 – on the back of a 4-14 mini-collapse – the pair ripped the momentum away from the tourists with a 122-run stand, India’s best ever for the eighth wicket.
The long partnership finally ended when Vastrakar pulled an Annabel Sutherland bouncer to Kim Garth at square leg.
The brilliant Sharma was then bowled by Garth before Australia’s short-ball tactics worked again when Renuka Singh (eight), taking evasive action, hung her bat out and spooned Sutherland’s bumper to Ash Gardner at gully.
The pace of Sutherland (2-41) and Garth (2-58) got the job done after the offspin of Gardner (4-100) had triggered India’s second-day mid-innings wobble.
AAP
