Key events
10th over: Australia 25-1 (Ellyse Perry 15, Phoebe Litchfield 5)
Kranti has Litchfield playing and missing now and it’s a fascinating battle between these two. Litchfield looks very frustrated with herself – whether she plays and misses, gets bat on ball but can’t pierce the field, or leaves it – all seem to be equally distressing to her at the moment. She finds a single on the last ball of the over to retain the strike.
9th over: Australia 24-1 (Ellyse Perry 15, Phoebe Litchfield 4)
Perry looks settled now, after some early trouble with playing and missing. She sends the first ball of the over down to the boundary for four. However I clearly cursed her by talking about her being done with playing and missing because she proceed to play and miss twice more, before edging one that falls short of the slips.
8th over: Australia 20-1 (Ellyse Perry 11, Phoebe Litchfield 4)
Perry channels Steve Smith and appears to see something behind the bowler, pulling out of the first delivery fairly late. But unlike Steve Smith, she recovers quickly and gets on with the game straight away and doesn’t require anyone to scale the sightscreen to remove a small piece of tape. Litchfield gets on strike and finds her first runs in four overs with a little steer down to third.
7th over: Australia 17-1 (Ellyse Perry 11, Phoebe Litchfield 2)
Another lbw appeal early in Satghare’s over, but again no love from the umpire and no review. Litchfield still doesn’t look settled – it’s hard work out there so far. She’s looking more confident with her defensive shots though, even though she’s not scoring too many runs just yet.
6th over: Australia 17-1 (Ellyse Perry 11, Phoebe Litchfield 2)
A big appeal on Perry for lbw midway through the over and there’s a nervous wait while India decide whether to review – they’re known for taking it quite late. They don’t take it that time, but next ball there’s an even bigger appeal for caught behind and this time they do review – with 3 seconds remaining on the DRS timer. It’s quite a bizarre review – I could drive my car in between the gap between bat and ball. Perry punishes them next ball with a strong cut shot the boundary for four. India appeal again for lbw, but they can’t get the umpire on board and they’re a bit shy about reviewing after making such a big mistake earlier in the over.
5th over: Australia 13-1 (Ellyse Perry 7, Phoebe Litchfield 2)
Satghare is really getting Perry playing and missing a lot, she’s getting so much movement. Perry eventually gets back on ball and finds some space in the field, but Satghare is not making it easy for her so far.
4th over: Australia 10-1 (Ellyse Perry 4, Phoebe Litchfield 2)
Litchfield gets the strike again, searching for her opportunity to get off the mark. She finds her opportunity, working one off her hip down towards the rope near fine leg for two. She’s not getting a lot of chances to get bat on ball, but she’ll feel a little bit of pressure come off now that she’s off the mark.
3rd over: Australia 6-1 (Ellyse Perry 4, Phoebe Litchfield 0)
Voll’s demise early in the over brings Perry to the crease with her faded old helmet. She kind of just wafts at the first ball and is fortunate that it doesn’t catch the edge. It seems to be quite tough out there under lights at the moment. Satghare lets Perry off the hook with a low full toss and Perry doesn’t miss out, driving it through the covers for Australia’s first boundary.
Wow, what a delivery from Satghare! Voll came forward to defend it, but Satghare found the gap between bat and pad and slid it through to take out leg stump.
2nd over: Australia 2-0 (Georgia Voll 2, Phoebe Litchfield 0)
Kranti Gaud opens the bowling for India from the other end, with a beautiful sunset at the Waca in the background and Litchfield gets her first look at the strike. Litchfield is lucky not to deflect one back on to her stumps early the over – she looks a little uncomfortable here under lights for now, we’ll see if she starts to settle. A maiden for Kranti to kick off her first spell.
1st over: Australia 2-0 (Georgia Voll 2, Phoebe Litchfield 0)
Here we go! Satghare takes the new ball for India – a tough ask since she wouldn’t have had much time to recover since she finished batting. However, she’s making things happen early, she gets a little edge on Voll that falls just short of the slips. Voll gets off the mark with a little flick off her pads that’s worked nicely for two. A good start from Satghare, just those two runs from the over.
After a quick break, the players are back on the field and we’re ready to get back into it!
India put up a good late fightback through the efforts of Kashvee Gautam, who finished with a solid 34 not out. But she just couldn’t find anyone to stay with her and India have finished well below par.
Earlier in the day they looked like they had things under control with Jemimah ticking along nicely, but once she and Richa were gone in quick succession, it looked unlikely that India would reach 200. That they got so close is thanks to Kashvee, who was very strong on debut.
However, we all know the saying – don’t judge a pitch until both teams have batted (or collapsed) on it. We don’t know exactly how the Australians will fare out there and 198 could well be a decent score. We won’t have to wait long to find out, with Litchfield and Voll due to come out and open the batting very soon. Stay with us, it should be a great finish to the first day!
Kashvee did so much work to hold on to the strike to start the over and then she immediately runs a single and puts Kranti back in the firing line. It only takes a couple of balls for Brown to work her over and catch a top edge and Sutherland commits hard to the catch – you can imagine she’s thinking “That’s how you take a catch you fools!”
62nd over: India 197-9 (Kashvee Gautam 33, Kranti Gaud 1)
Sutherland gets her fourth wicket – all four have been on the first ball of an over! Kashvee is quite keen to get back on strike, but it’s tough for Kranti to get the ball away, but eventually she manages to rotate the strike back to the set batter and get herself off the mark.
After the drop a few overs ago, Mooney now manages to hold on to a catch from Sutherland. Satghare just kind of swipes at the ball and it pops up to Mooney.
61st over: India 195-8 (Kashvee Gautam 32, Sayali Satghare 7)
The first ball of Brown’s over nearly goes straight through Kashvee, but instead raps her on the inside of her thigh, which would probably hurt quite a lot! It might have rattled her a bit, because next ball she top edges it straight up in the air. Hamilton, Litchfield and Gardner all chase it, but none of them really commit and it falls in between them. King’s warming up in the background, so I’d expect to see her back in the attack soon.
60th over: India 193-8 (Kashvee Gautam 31, Sayali Satghare 7)
Another leading edge to start Sutherland’s next over, but they can’t quite get these edges to carry to the field at the moment. The cameras are zooming in on Kashvee’s shirt – it clearly belongs to Harleen Deol, but the name has been crudely taped over. Apparently she was a late call up to the Test team, but it does feel like maybe they could have brought a few blank shirts just in case?
59th over: India 192-8 (Kashvee Gautam 30, Sayali Satghare 7)
Brown starts her over with a low full toss that Kashvee pounces on for another two runs. Prior to that ball, Litchfield was caught on camera playing a bit of air guitar. I’d think she was referencing the Australian men’s 4x100m relay team from the Sydney 2000 Olympics if it wasn’t for the fact that she was born in 2003. Brown nearly catches Kashvee’s edge with a short ball, but Kashvee evades her.
58th over: India 189-8 (Kashvee Gautam 27, Sayali Satghare 7)
Sutherland gets us back underway and Kashvee drives the first ball nicely for two – picking up where she left off! She repeats the shot for the same outcome late in the over – a good over for Kashvee all up.
The players are back on the field and we’re ready to resume!
Don’t forget you can email me any thoughts you have during this game. Whether you’ve got opinions on field placings, shot selection or that new waterslide park at the Waca, I want to hear about it. The link is at the top of the page – drop me a line!
In Alyssa Healy’s final match for Australia, perhaps you wish to spend some time reflecting on her career while you have your dinner/(insert meal most relevant to the current time in your timezone). Well, funny you should say that, here’s something I prepared earlier.
57th over: India 184-8 (Kashvee Gautam 22, Sayali Satghare 7)
Darcie Brown returns to the attack now and she’s getting a bit of movement from the first ball. Kashvee plays a lovely shot, a very nice drive down the ground, but the outfield is quite thick and the ball holds up, so she only gets a single from it. It’s time for a break now – the dinner break apparently! So go and refuel wherever you are and we’ll see you back here soon for the final session of the day.
56th over: India 181-8 (Kashvee Gautam 21, Sayali Satghare 5)
A huge swing from Kashvee to start Sutherland’s over, but as the saying goes, there is “no ding”. The Australians are quite desperate to get these last two wickets, you can sense the frustration in the field. There’s another lbw appeal, but the umpire isn’t interested and no one is convinced enough to review it.
55th over: India 180-8 (Kashvee Gautam 20, Sayali Satghare 5)
A big appeal on Satghare midway through the over, but it looks to have struck her outside the line and the Australians decide not to review. An uneventful over aside from that, a maiden for Gardner.
54th over: India 180-8 (Kashvee Gautam 20, Sayali Satghare 5)
King is indeed back on the field, handing her vest back to Wareham. Sutherland comes back on to bowl after a very successful spell earlier today. She gets an edge first ball, but Mooney juggles a very simple catch and puts it down – the fourth dropped catch from Sutherland’s bowling today. Kashvee makes the most of the life she’s been given and works the next ball off her pads to the rope for four.
53rd over: India 176-8 (Kashvee Gautam 16, Sayali Satghare 5)
Gardner continues her spell and Mooney has decided to just call out “catch” every ball it seems. But it doesn’t put Kashvee off, she finds the boundary with a standing sweep shot and then works one nicely off her hip for two. On the sideline, King’s orange vest has worked its way up to a bit of a scarf situation around her shoulders and she’s doing some stretches, so we may see her again soon.
52nd over: India 169-8 (Kashvee Gautam 9, Sayali Satghare 5)
King is off the field at the moment, she has been struggling with calf cramping for about an hour or so. But she’s in the orange vest and still hanging around the boundary, so it seems like she’s going to be OK. Satghare hits her first boundary with a lovely straight drive back past Hamilton for four. Hamilton recovers well with a series of dots, but she’s warned by the umpire for running on the pitch, which seems to throw off her rhythm a bit.
51st over: India 165-8 (Kashvee Gautam 9, Sayali Satghare 1)
Gardner once again gets an edge that pops up near the close in fielders – she’s making quite the habit of that. One of them might one day carry to one of the fielders! Satghare works one around the corner and then Kashvee goes bang with a huge sweep shot for a one bounce four and then follows it up with a two.
50th over: India 157-8 (Kashvee Gautam 2, Sayali Satghare 0)
A wicket on the first ball of the over brings Satghare out to the centre and she is playing watchfully after seeing the last few batters go out trying to smash it. Another wicket maiden for Hamilton.
Hamilton strikes first ball of the over, getting Rana slashing wildly at a leg side delivery. The leading edge goes straight up in the air and it’s the simplest catch for McGrath.
49th over: India 157-7 (Kashvee Gautam 2, Sneh Rana 5)
Kashvee gets one past Gardner, but not quite far enough past her to get off the mark. She’s patient though, she’s not letting the dot ball pressure get to her. She’s here for a long time, not a good time. Of course, as soon as I say that, she has a big slashing sweep at the ball and top edges it, but luckily for her, it falls safely and she runs two to get off the mark.
48th over: India 155-7 (Kashvee Gautam 0, Sneh Rana 5)
Hamilton is still getting the ball moving, she gets very close to Rana’s edge at the start over the over and the straightens her right up and forces a very strong defensive shot. Hamilton throws a bouncer in midway through the over, but Rana isn’t too concerned by it. She tries her slower ball, but misses her length and it’s a low full toss that Rana punches down the ground for four.
Leave a comment