Minnu Mani, Priya Mishra put India ‘A’ on top

Gold Coast (Australia): Captain Minnu Mani and leg-spinner Priya Mishra picked up nine wickets collectively and put India ‘A’ in pole position on the opening day of the one-off four-day game against Australia ‘A’ at the Kerrydale Oval on Thursday. 

After Australia 'A' skipper Charli Knott elected to bat first, off-spinner Minnu’s 5/58 and Priya’s 4/48 propelled India ‘A’ to bowl out the hosts for 212 in 65.5 overs. In reply, opener Shweta Sehrawat’s unbeaten 40 and Tejal Hasabnis being 31 not out helped India ‘A’ end the day at 100/2.

Australia ‘A’ began well with openers Emma de Broughe and Georgia Voll sharing a 56-run opening partnership. Priya, introduced in the 13th over, struck in her second over when she bowled Emma with a googly, followed by Minnu having Charlie jab one to short leg.

Priya struck again by having Nicole Faltum miscue a shot to cover to leave Australia ‘A’ at 68/3. Georgia Voll top-scored for Australia ‘A’ with 71 off 95 balls, laced with 12 fours, before being caught behind while trying to cut off left-arm spinner Mannat Kashyap.

From there, Priya and Minnu struck repeatedly to have Australia ‘A’ in tatters at 144/8, before Kate Peterson (26) and Grace Parsons (35) shared a 60-run stand off 111 balls to take them past 200. But Minnu broke the duo’s stubborn resistance by trapping Grace lbw before Priya castled Kate with a googly to end the innings of Australia ‘A’.

India ‘A’ didn’t have a great start as Priya Punia was late on pulling off a quick short ball from Maitlan Brown and was caught at midwicket. Shubha Satheesh played four attractive boundaries in her knockoff 22 before being trapped lbw by Kate. Shweta was slow to begin but picked up momentum and shared an unbroken 53-run third-wicket stand with Tejal till the stumps were called.

Brief scores: Australia ‘A’ 212 all out in 65.5 overs (Georgia Voll 71; Minnu Mani 5/58, Priya Mishra 4/58) vs India ‘A’ 100/2 in 36 overs (Shweta Sehrawat 40 not out, Tejal Hasabnis 31 not out).