Minnu Mani scalps five again, but it's advantage Australia 'A'

Gold Coast (Australia): India 'A' bowlers led a spirited fightback but Australia 'A' tightened their grip on the unofficial one-off women's Test, with the hosts' overall lead surging to 192 runs on the second day here on Friday.

India 'A' skipper Minnu Mani completed her match haul of 10 wickets, but Kate Peterson's impactful 12-5-16-5 handed Australia 'A' a vital 28-run lead in the first innings. The visitors were bowled out for 184 in reply to the home side's 212.

Resuming on 100/2, India 'A' looked on course to take a substantial lead but fell short as Peterson ran through the middle order.

India's set batters Tejal Hasabnis (32) and Shweta Sehrawat (40) departed quickly as the tourists lost their five wickets for 27 runs before Sayali Satghare (21), Minnu (17) and Mannat Kashyap (19) put up 56 runs to deny the Aussies a huge lead.

Minnu then swung into action with the ball immediately as Australia 'A' batters once again struggled against the Indian spinners. The off-spinner first removed opener Georgia Voll and her Australian counterpart Charli Knott for ducks in consecutive overs to reduce the hosts to 0/2.

Minnu, who claimed a five-wicket haul in the first essay, also got rid of Nicole Faltum (16) before she cleaned up Tess Fintoo with an off-break.

However, opener Emma de Broughe continued to hold fort from one end as she scored 58 runs off 117 balls.

Wicketkeeper Maddy Drake took matters into her own hands by hitting an unbeaten half century (54 not out of 100 deliveries) to lead Australia's recovery further as the hosts reached 164/7 at the end of play.

Drake added 54 for the sixth wicket with Maitlan Brown (26 off 45) before the latter became Minnu's tenth wicket in the game.

Brief scores: Australia 'A' 212 and 164/7 (Emma de Broughe 58, Manddy Darke 54 not out; Minnu Mani 5/47) vs India 'A' 184 (Shweta Sehrawart 40; Kate Peterson 5/16).