India perhaps produced the most jaw-dropping moment of Day 1 in the one-off Test against Australia, when debutant moved the ball prodigiously through the gap between bat and pad of opener Georgia Voll, starting from well outside the off stump and hitting the top of the leg stump. But in the grander scheme of things, on a day when 13 wickets fell overall, Australia finished well in control at WACA in Perth.
Alyssa Healy’s decision to bowl first after winning the toss was vindicated as Australia’s seamers, led by the sensational Annabel Sutherland, picked up regular wickets in the first two sessions to bowl India out for 198. And having had to navigate the tricky period under lights with the pink ball hooping around, the hosts will rest easy knowing that their two most prolific batters in this format – Ellyse Perry and Sutherland – were unbeaten at stumps at 96/3.
For India, many batters got starts, but it was only Jemimah Rodrigues who was able to convert it to a score of some substance. With an 84-ball 52 that required her to start cautiously, the right-hander extended her record of scoring a half-century in each of her four Tests so far, all coming in the first innings.
Sayali Satghare gets an extraordinary amount of movement for her first Test wicket 😱
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau)
Having taken 11 deliveries to get off the mark, when players walked off for a drinks break, Rodrigues was seen patting her left shoulder with her right glove – almost like the ‘all izz well’ gesture from the Bollywood flick ‘3 Idiots’. She seemed determined to grind it out in the middle as Sutherland and Co were getting the pink ball to talk. Her first boundary was a streaky one, an outside edge off debutant Lucy Hamilton through the third man region. But the second, just before lunch, was a sign she was getting the hang of the bouncy WACA conditions. Going slightly across the line to negate Hamilton’s angle, she timed the ball down the ground with a straight bat past mid on.
Sutherland’s six-over spell after lunch was filled with unplayable deliveries, but Rodrigues weathered the storm and then took on the spinners. She welcomed leg-spinner Alana King into the attack with four consecutive boundaries – two each through the offside and legside. It came at a time when India could not buy a run from Sutherland – her six-over spell going for seven runs.
She brought up her fighting half-century with a four off Ash Gardner, offering a reminder of why she loves batting in whites. But after doing all the hard work, when it was time to cash in, the right-hander flicked a full ball on her pads from Hamilton to the fielder at square leg, who was placed neither in nor out.
Gritty and graceful 👏
Jemimah Rodrigues leads ‘s charge with a well-composed half-century 🙌
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— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen)
Apart from Rodrigues, only Shafali Verma at the top and Kashvee Gautam at No 9 were able to cross 30s. The tone for Australia was set by Hamilton, who bowled a lovely inswinger that moved in late from a full length, to dismiss Smriti Mandhana. Shafali looked largely untroubled, but then Sutherland’s full-length away swinger was too good not to be edged behind. Pratika Rawal was done by the extra bounce, also by Sutherland.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was off to a uncharacteristically aggressive start with a flurry of boundaries but was done in by an indipper from Darcie Brown. It was a forgettable outing in the middle order for Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh, both of whom have had tours to forget so far. It was only another case of batters letting the team down on this tour.
Brief scores: India 198 all out (Jemimah Rodrigues 52, Annabel Sutherland 4/46) lead Australia 96/3 (Ellyse Perry 43*, Sayali Satghare 2/24) by 102 runs.
