Australia were clearly outplayed by India in the drawn women’s cricket Test on the Gold Coast but the hosts will take a two-point lead into the final leg of their multi-format series.
Set a near impossible target of 272 at 8.5 runs an over in the final session of the match at Metricon Stadium on Sunday, Australia finished at 2-36 when the teams agreed to end the contest at the drinks break with an hour left to play.
Australia didn’t attempt the unrealistic chase after losing openers Alyssa Healy (6) and Beth Mooney (11) inside 11 overs.
Captain Meg Lanning finished 17 not out and Ellyse Perry on 1.
Perry in her last five Test innings has scored 473 runs and been dismissed just once.
Both teams take two points from the match, giving Australia a 6-4 lead going into the final part of the multi-format series.
The three-match T20 section will be played over five nights at Metricon, starting on Thursday.
India controlled most of the contest, which always seemed likely to finish in a draw after rain allowed only 101.5 overs across the first two days.
“I think without the weather in this Test we would definitely have got a result in four days,” Lanning said.
“It was a tough little session for us at the back end of the Test, but I thought India played extremely well throughout.
“They put us on the back foot early in the Test and we had to fight it out, which I’m pretty proud of the group for doing.”
Indian captain Mithali Raj said the timing of her declaration had been tricky.
“When we declared we thought if we got could have got four wickets in the first hour, maybe we would have got into the mandatory overs (in the last hour),” Raj said.
“But eight getting wickets in the last 15 overs was a bit of a stretch.”
While the match had three declarations, none of them were overly adventurous and the pitch played well, though India’s seamers extracted both swing and movement.
Lanning declared 136 behind on 9-241 shortly before the scheduled lunch break on Sunday and after Australia avoided the follow on.
Perry (68 not out) and Ashleigh Gardner (51) increased their overnight partnership to 89, with the latter recording her first Test fifty.
Perry had some luck on Sunday as she got the benefit of the doubt on an LBW decision on 37 and was dropped on 58 and 61.
Gardner’s dismissal triggered a collapse of 5-32 either side of the second new ball.
India’s pace trio Pooja Vastraka (3-49) Meghna Singh (2-54) and Jhulan Goswami (2-49) caused plenty of problems and were well supported by spinner Deepti Sharma (2-36).
Openers Shafali Verma (52) and Smriti Mandhana (31) gave India a terrific launchpad by putting on 70 in 17.5 overs, but the run rate dipped after two quick wickets to finger spinners Sophie Molineux and Gardner.
Leggie Georgia Wareham, who had been sparingly used, grabbed her first Test wicket by trapping Verma early in the last session.
Punam Raut finished (41 not out) as India declared on 3-135 after 37 overs.
Damo
Guest
I know this match was affected by rain but any chance they could get a pitch with some juice in it to help getting results? Everytime I watch a women's test here, it seems like they're always playing on concrete roads. And yeah, I understand it's not just limited to the women's matched.
Diamond Jackie
Roar Rookie
I don’t see why assessing a women player on how they would play against men is important or relevant.
Diamond Jackie
Roar Rookie
They play women’s tests so rarely, when they do , surely they can be 5 day tests. Why not?
Oliver
Roar Rookie
I once heard Lisa Sthalekar talking about how it would be good if whenever an tour happens there is at one test match alongside the white ball fixtures. Series with 2,3,4 matches are likely to never happen, but one per tour amounts to 3-5 in a year.
Pope Paul VII
Roar Rookie
I agree that there are not enough tests.
Sedz
Guest
Women's cricket gets little notice compared to Men's game especially in India and most countries (not sure about Eng & Aus). Adding to that, women's game don't seem to be improving outside big three. Even the big three women's team rarely play test cricket. Hopefully they play many more in the year to come. Is there any data on how many games each women's team has played in last 3 years (including LOI and tests)?
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Its ridiculous to have so few test matches, this multi format points thing is a joke. Australia in test format seem to be so much weaker, their bowling doesn't seem to be able to take wickets and their batting they cant even hang around to support Perry. Elysse Perry the only major professional sport that a women could succesfully play against men is in test cricket in batting , ignoring that a women could be a punter or place kicker or even a quarter back in NFL. Some women do actually kick for male college American football teams. Should Perry switch to the mens teams since they are also lacking in test style batsman.