A collapse followed a promising start after Maddy Darke’s unbeaten century, Grace Parsons set India A 289-run target
The visitors, India A were in a dominating position and were controlling the game to a certain extent courtesy of skipper Minnu Mani’s yet another five-wicket haul. The home side found themselves at 164/7, leading India A by 192 runs at the end of the 2nd day’s play.
The pair of Maddy Darke (54*) and Lilly Mills (3*) resumed the 3rd day’s play and just managed to add four runs to their overnight score (164/7) before skipper Minnu Mani cleaned up Lilly Mills to provide the 8th breakthrough for India A. Grace Parsons joined wicket-keeper batter Maddy Darke at the crease and the duo stitched a much-needed 75-run partnership for the 9th wicket to take their side close to the 250-run mark.
Sayali Satghare cleaned up Grace Parsons to provide the 9th breakthrough for her side. Australia A was eventually bundled out for 260 in 92 overs, with a lead of 288. Maddy Darke (105* off 197 balls), Emma de Broughe (58 off 117 balls), Grace Parsons (35 off 57 balls), and Maitlan Brown (26 off 45 balls), were the top performers with the bat for Australia A.
Skipper Minnu Mani (31-6-92-6), Sayali Satghare (21-6-41-2), and Priya Mishra (17-1-59-2) were the top performers with the ball for India A. Chasing a target of 289, the India A openers Shweta Sehrawat and Priya Punia got their side off to a solid start with a 37-run opening partnership. Skipper Charli Knott picked up the wicket of Shewta Sehrawat to provide the 1first breakthrough for Australia A.
Shubha Satheesh joined Priya Punia at the crease and the duo stitched another crucial 52-run partnership for the 2nd wicket to take their side close to the 100-run mark. Lilly Mills picked up the wicket of Priya Punia to provide the 2nd breakthrough for her side. Tejal Hasabnis joined Shubha Satheesh at the crease and the duo stitched a 17-run partnership for the 3rd wicket to take their side past the 100-run mark.
Grace Parsons picked up the wicket of Tejal Hasabnis to provide the 3rd breakthrough for Australia A. India A suffered a mini collapse as they lost their next three wickets for just 25 runs. Wicket-keeper batter Uma Chetry joined Raghvi Bist at the crease with their side in deep trouble at 131/6 in the 58th over of the run chase.
India A still needs 140 runs with four wickets in hand to win the one-off unofficial Test against Australia A on the final day of the unofficial Test. The pair would be keen to build a solid partnership, inch closer to the target, and keep assessing the run chase regularly.