Key events
19th over: India 61-2 (Pratika Rawal 18, Jemimah Rodrigues o) Rodrigues is frustrated by McGrath’s accuracy as the first light of dawn starts to seep through my window. They take another drinks break.
18th over: India 61-2 (Pratika Rawal 18, Jemimah Rodrigues o) Dot to dot from Sutherland!
17th over: India 61-2 (Pratika Rawal 18, Jemimah Rodrigues o) Seven from the over – four from an edge, three, dumped and sticking, over mid wicket.
16th over: India 54-2 (Pratika Rawal 11, Jemimah Rodrigues o) A wicket (big wicket ) maiden, plus a possible drop of Rodrigues at short leg, and that after she’d got a working over from Sutherland from her first three balls.
WICKET Verma c Mooney b Sutherland 35 (India 54-2)
Verma dawdles into the shot and nicks behind where Mooney collects.
15th over: India 54-1 ( Shafali Verma 35, Pratika Rawal 11) A maiden for McGrath.
14th over: India 54-1 ( Shafali Verma 35, Pratika Rawal 11) A shout of catch! as Rawal pushes at Sutherland but the ball flies through Hamilton at gully and down to the rope. I think it went through her hands but I’m not sure – there aren’t huge numbers of slow-mo replays on offer. Verma pulls the last ball for four through the covers. And suddenly India are motoring.
13th over: India 43-1 ( Shafali Verma 31, Pratika Rawal 4) And a double change as McGrath replaces Brown. It’s a busy first over – first Verma is beaten outside off, then she thrashes McGrath down the ground for four, finally she steps and pulls – Darcie Brown dives at mid on but the ball falls just out of reach.
12th over: India 35-1 ( Shafali Verma 23, Pratika Rawal 4) A change of bowler as Annabel Sutherland gives Hamilton a deserved rest. Five pairs of hands wait behind Rawal’s stumps. A maiden to start.
11th over: India 35-1 ( Shafali Verma 23, Pratika Rawal 4) Alana King is miked up and commentators congratulate her on knocking Sophie Ecclestone off the ODI bowling top spot after 1450 days. Brown squeezes India from her end to, five dots and wide, but Verma reaches for her last ball and sends her spilling through the covers for four.
10th over: India 30-1 ( Shafali Verma 19, Pratika Rawal 4) I’ve spotted more spectators now, hugging the shade. Hamilton with another impressive over, and the players stop for their first drinks break on this scorching day.
9th over: India 29-1 ( Shafali Verma 18, Pratika Rawal 4) Still pitch black here in Manchester, as the cameras pan to an amazing outdoor pool and waterslide just the other side of the WACA. It looks heavenly. Anyway, another tidy over from Brown: a bouncer that Verma ducks and couple of good bits of fielding from Perry to prove me wrong.
8th over: India 26-1 ( Shafali Verma 15, Pratika Rawal 4) Hamilton follows up her first wicket with a maiden. Justin Langer purrs in the commentary box, “the perfect length.”
7th over: India 26-1 ( Shafali Verma 15, Pratika Rawal 4) Verma drops under a bouncer and then pings Brown through mid-off for four.
If you’re at the WACA or just watching at home anywhere around the world, do drop me a line.
6th over: India 22-1 ( Shafali Verma 11, Pratika Rawal 4) Such a great wicket! I’ve just realised that Hamilton is still a teenager – 20 in May. Rawal, also on Test debut, is squared up to her second ball and the ball flies for four.
WICKET! Mandana b Hamilton 4 (India 18-1)
Middle stump a go go! Shapes the ball back in and beats Mandhana’s drive. Hamilton clenches her fist and gets mobbed by her teammates – what a debut wicket for Australia.
5th over: India 18-0 (Smriti Mandhana 4, Shafali Verma 11) First boundary of the day and its a thing of gorgeousness, Verma purrs Brown though the covers.
4th over: India 14-0 (Smriti Mandhana 4, Shafali Verma 7) I’ve spotted a couple of people on Healy hill, sitting like white ducks on a green bank. A good battle building between Verma and Hamilton. Perry again looks more traction engine than Ferrari in the field.
3rd over: India 8-0 (Smriti Mandhana 2, Shafali Verma 4) There aren’t huge numbers in at the WACA, unless they’re camera shy. Perhaps there will be an after-work influx. Brown has the ball swinging, Verma doesn’t look entirely secure.
2nd over: India 5-0 (Smriti Mandhana 2, Shafali Verma 2) Test debutant Hamilton charges in, tall , strong, long chestnut ponytail resting down her back. A couple of runs for Verma past Perry, whose quad injury may be slowing her movement. Hamilton is keen on an lbw shout, and Healy agrees so they ask upstairs – but no joy as there’s an inside edge onto the pad – though the ball looped back in very nicely. Australia lose a review.
1st over: India 3-0 (Smriti Mandhana 2, Shafali Verma 0) Darcie Brown with the new ball, up against the woman with the highest strike rate of any female Test player and the finest cover driver in all Illyria. But a fairly quiet first over: a wide, and a couple of runs through the covers.
The cameras spot Mitch Starc on the boundary edge, both him and Healy with a best Test score of 99. Australia huddle and then Healy leads the team out, tugging down her baggy green as she strides out.
Blue blue skies and a healthy wind at the WACA as the teams line up for the anthems. Healy is beaming.
India XI – four Test debuts
Test debuts for Kranti Gaud, Kashvee Gautam, Pratika Rawal, Sayali Satghare.
India Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Kashvee Gautam, Sneh Rana, Sayali Satghare, Kranti Gaud.
Australia XI – Hamilton and Perry play
A Test debut for left-arm quick Lucy Hamilton, while Ellyse Perry plays as a batter.
Australia: Phoebe Litchfield, Georgia Voll, Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy (capt), Annabel Sutherland, Beth Mooney (wk), Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath, Alana King, Lucy Hamilton, Darcie Brown.
Australia win the toss and bowl!
Healy says she was torn but there was lots of grass on the surface yesterday. Harmanpreet would have fielded first too.
Preamble
Tanya Aldred
Hello! Welcome to the first day of this one-off pink ball Test at the Waca, the last hurrah of the Australia-India series, and a grand four-day farewell to Australia captain Alyssa Healy, who prepares to un-velcro her pads one final time, aged 35, and leave a glorious career billowing behind her.
This will be Healy’s 299th match for Australia, but only her eleventh Test, such is the scarcity of women’s Test cricket – something else to mull over during the next four days. She’s never made a Test hundred, but if her blazing 158 in her final ODI is anything to go by, you wouldn’t bet against her ticking one last box on her way out.
Australia lead the multi-format series 8-4, so India will need the four points that come with a Test victory to level things up. They were fantastic in the T20 matches, which they won 2-1, but faded in the 50-over stuff, which Australia whitewashed 3-0.
Australia romped home in their last Test, against a demoralised England in January 2025, 16-0 and all that; while it’s been 20 months since India played in whites, thrashing South Africa by 10 wickets in Chennai.
With the grassy banks at Perth renamed Healy Hill, Australia want a celebration for their much-loved captain. India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur will have other ideas.
Play starts at 1.20pm local/4.20pm AEDT/10.50am IST. Pull up a chair and join us!