44th over: Australia 142-4, (Healy 36, Sutherland 11) A couple more to the total as an email dings in my inbox!
Guy Hornsby as a I live and breathe.
“Morning Jim. This is already a cracking contest, and (sadly) you can see the distances between England last week and this Australian side. They have so much class and poise, where I think we just needed a bit more composure last week. But this is also a wicket or two away from India really being on top. And Healy is such class, she’s the key one. That DRS call was a huge moment. Isn’t Test cricket the best?”
No arguments with any of this from me, Guy.
43rd over: Australia 140-4, (Healy 36, Sutherland 10) A maiden but with some drama as Healy is given out LBW to Gayakwad… but reviews instantly, always a sign that there’s another narrative at play… sure enough there’s a spike on the bat as the ball passes and the inside edge comes to the rescue of Australia’s captain.
42nd over: Australia 140-4, (Healy 36, Sutherland 10) The Aussies eke away, two singles off the over.
We have survived more overs than England in the first innings against India. We have won the moral #Ashes
— australian womens cricket with very little context (@awcwvlc) December 21, 2023
HoHoHo
41st over: Australia 138-4, (Healy 35, Sutherland 9) Both sides sizing each other up in the afternoon heat in Mumbai. Gayakwad keeps Healy honest with five dots before the batter managed to glide the final ball of the over away for a couple.
40th over: Australia 136-4, (Healy 33, Sutherland 9) Deepti Sharma comes on as Harmanpreet makes a double change. A drag down is seized upon by Sutherland, speared away wide of cover for a welcome Aussie boundary.
39th over: Australia 131-4, (Healy 32, Sutherland 5) Vastrakar takes a breather as Gayakwad comes back into the attack and stitches together a maiden.
38th over: Australia 131-4, (Healy 32, Sutherland 5) Alyssa Healy breaks the shackles against Rana. Working for two runs before shimmying down the track and bunting over the top for a well struck four.
37th over: Australia 125-4, (Healy 26, Sutherland 5) Vastrakar continues, Healy and Sutherland rotate strike for three singles. My toddler awakes and pads into the front room with a mischievous glint in her eye. This’ll test my multi-tasking skills…
36th over: Australia 122-4, (Healy 24, Sutherland 4) Rana is showing off all her skill, she’s gone for just 16 runs off her 12 overs today and has the wicket of McGrath in her pocket. Sutherland manages to clip for two as Australia slowly build their innings.
35th over: Australia 120-4, (Healy 24, Sutherland 2) Miserly stuff from the home side, just a single off Vastrakar, Sutherland working into a gap and calling Healy through for a well judged run.
33rd over: Australia 118-4, (Healy 24, Sutherland 0) Bright start for Healy in the afternoon session, she plays a lovely late dab off Vastrakar and gets it wide of point and in the gap for four runs.
15 of the 21 sessions played in women's Test cricket this year have featured 100+ runs. That is a revolutionary pace of scoring compared with much of the history of the format.#INDvAUS
32nd over: Australia 114-4, (Healy 20, Sutherland 0) Rana replaces Renuka who gets just the single over spell post lunch. Healy is watchful, shuffling back and flicking to leg for the only run of the over.
31st over: Australia 113-4, (Healy 19, Sutherland 0) Vastrakar - vanquisher of Perry and Mooney in the morning session - is over the wicket with two slips and a gully. She serves up a full bunger to Healy who clips it away for four with ease. A nudge to leg brings a single.
30th over: Australia 108-4, (Healy 14, Sutherland 0) Here come the players for the afternoon session. Sun beating down in Mumbai. Sky inkier than a squid with a weakness for calligraphy here in London.
Healy punches Renuka Singh through cover for four in the first over back, Annabel Sutherland has joined her skipper in the middle.
India take the morning spoils then with that dramatic prising of Mooney for a patient 40 on the stroke of the interval. Harmanpreet leads her side off in Mumbai with a beaming smile. Can her opposite number Alyssa Healy do the requisite rebuild job with the bat in the afternoon session? Australia have Annabel Sutherland, Ash Gardner and Jess Jonassen to come, between them they’ll need to knuckle down and get their side up to a competitive total (at least 250) in this first innings, especially after winning the toss and getting first use of a decent Wankhede deck.
Time for some early morning sustenance here in London, I’ll be back soon for the afternoon session. Do drop me a line if you are tuning in, I’ll delve into the OBO mailbag with my ‘Full Scandi’ (muesli).
29th over: Australia 103-4, (Healy 9)
Vastrakar removes Mooney with the final ball before lunch! What a moment in this first session – a short ball is speared in and rears up at Mooney who gets a meaty glove on it that loops to Rana in the slips for a simple catch.
28th over: Australia 100-3, (Mooney 38, Healy 8) Hundred up for Australia with a Healy drive into the covers. I’d say the spoils have been shared this morning if there are no more wickets in the few minutes we’ve got til the lunch break.
27th over: Australia 99-3, (Mooney 38, Healy 7) That’ll do! Healy gets off the mark with a SIX lofted down the ground and over the rope at mid on. After facing a dozen dots the Aussie skipper decides enough is enough. A poke to point brings her a single and she’ll keep strike.
26th over: Australia 92-3, (Mooney 38, Healy 0) A maiden from Rana to Mooney who breathes deeply between each delivery, bringing the heart rate back down after that close run thing in the previous over.
25th over: Australia 92-3, (Mooney 38, Healy 0) Drama! Beth Mooney is given out on the field LBW to Deepti, the ball hitting her on the toe… it looks very adjacent in real time but the batter calls for a review. NOT OUT! DRS has the ball sliding just past leg stump and Mooney survives! That’s a big moment, Mooney has a track record of batting long, she’s crucial to Aussie hopes of making a decent first innings total. India cannot believe that ball is missing, hands on head on the huddle as the verdict came back from the big screen.
24th over: Australia 89-3, (Mooney 39, Healy 0) Dot followed dot followed dot followed dot… Australia becalmed after the loss of McGrath.
23rd over: Australia 88-3, (Mooney 38, Healy 0) Deepti Sharma into the attack. A slip and short leg in place to greet Healy after Mooney nudges a single off the first ball. Good pressure built from Deepti, who sends down five dots to keep Healy honest.
Gone now though! Out of nowhere too after looking so comfortable for her entire stay at the crease, McGrath mis-times a flick to midwicket and plinks the ball in the air for a leaping Gayakwad to grab the catch.
New skipper Alyssa Healy strides out to the middle to join Mooney. Big twenty minutes before lunch incoming.
22nd over: Australia 87-3, (Mooney 37, Healy 0)
21st over: Australia 86-2, (Mooney 37, McGrath 50) That’s fifty for Tahlia McGrath, well batted! She came in with Australia teetering at 7-2 and played some glorious strokes, hitting eight boundaries in no time at all. She brings up the half ton with a push into the covers for a single.
20th over: Australia 80-2, (Mooney 28, McGrath 48) Rana whirls away, just a couple of singles to Australia.
19th over: Australia 78-2, (Mooney 27, McGrath 47) Shot! Mooney rocks back to a short ball from Gayakwad and times nicely through cover for four to pick up her second boundary. Still pitch black here in London, as the shortest day of the year creaks into life. I can hear a fox sniffing away at the bins outside my window. Boggis, Bunce and Bins.
18th over: Australia 73-2, (Mooney 22, McGrath 47) Things have calmed down a touch at the Wankhede after that dramatic start an hour or so ago. Three singles collected off the spin of Rana.
17th over: Australia 70-2, (Mooney 20, McGrath 46) Gayakwad is getting the ball to fizz on off the surface. Mooney is watchful, she’s faced 56 balls for her twenty runs whilst McGrath has whizzed to 46 off 44 at the other end.
16th over: Australia 68-2, (Mooney 19, McGrath 45) A probing over from Rana sees a sharp chance put down by Deepti Sharma at slip after the ball took the edge of McGrath’s and flicked Ghosh’s gloves on the way to her. Sharma was caught a bit flat footed there, that’s the second chance she’s grassed this morning.
15th over: Australia 66-2, (Mooney 18, McGrath 44) Gayakwad continues, giving the ball plenty of flight from around the wicket. She gives one a bit too much air and McGrath needs no further invitation to get on the front foot and drive away for four.
14th over: Australia 62-2, (Mooney 18, McGrath 40) A couple of singles off Rana in the first over back after refreshments. These two have chalked up a fifty partnership at a decent lick.
13th over: Australia 60-2, (Mooney 17, McGrath 39) Spin from both ends now, a test of technique for the batters in the middle and this bleary eyed OBO scribe as the overs tend to rattle by at warp speed. Rajeshwari Gayakwad into the attack with a couple of slips and a silly point in place. McGrath is watchful for four balls before pouncing on a shorter one and flaying through point for a boundary. Time for a drink.
12th over: Australia 56-2, (Mooney 17, McGrath 35) Eeeesht. Rana starts with a tidy maiden, including a stifled appeal to a forward prod from Mooney that looked to hit pad first… India shrug it off but if they had reviewed then Mooney would have been sent packing! The ball was hitting middle and definitely struck pad first. A let off for Australia.
11th over: Australia 56-2, (Mooney 17, McGrath 35) Beth Mooney accumulates, angling into the off side for a couple and driving through cover to pick up a further three runs. We’re going to see spin for the first time in the Test, Sneh Rana is coming on to replace Pooja Vastrakar who pocketed Perry emphatically in her first over.
10th over: Australia 50-2, (Mooney 12, McGrath 34) Australia rattling along at five an over despite the early losses of Litchfield and Perry. Shot of the morning from McGrath! An imperious drive on bended knee that skims across the baize to the boundary. Fifty up for the visitors.
9th over: Australia 45-2, (Mooney 12, McGrath 29) The runs continue to come for Australia who are rebuilding well in Mumbai after that calamitous start. McGrath punches a length ball to the off side fence and Mooney gets in on the act with a drive through cover. This isn’t the docile graveryard shift I was expecting ease me into the day, no complaints though!
@Jimbo_Cricket enjoying your coverage of the Aus-Ind women’s test - here’s hoping it goes for four days, right down to the wire, and Australia wins it at the last minute with a great Ellyse Perry batting performance
I think this Mr Keynes could be an Aussie… be good though wouldn’t it?
8th over: Australia 36-2, (Mooney 8, McGrath 24) Yikes. Vastrakar stitches together a maiden and beats the bat of Beth Mooney three times in the over.
7th over: Australia 36-2, (Mooney 8, McGrath 24) DROP! McGrath slashes at a ball that moved across her and the sharp chance is shelled by Deepti Sharma in the cordon. McGrath shrugs it off by gliding the next ball down through point for a boundary. It’s been an exciting start eh!
Is there anyone out there? Drop me a line why dontcha? Email me here or give me a nudge @Jimbo_Cricket.
6th over: Australia 27-2, (Mooney 7, McGrath 16) Vastrakar tests out the middle of the pitch and McGrath stands tall to punch through the off side for another four, she looks in fine fettle.
Phoebe Litchfield is the first women's opening batter to be dismissed through run-out for zero in W-Tests since 1961.
Mary Taylor (ENG-W) in 1937 vs AUS-W Joyce Powell (NZ-W) in 1957 vs ENG-W Kit Raymond (AUS-W) in 1961 vs NZ-W#INDvAUS
5th over: Australia 19-2, (Mooney 6, McGrath 9) India go for a review for an LBW against Beth Mooney who is walking across her stumps but missing a clip into the leg side. NOT OUT. The umpire was unmoved despite DRS showing the the ball was clipping the leg stump. The decision stands but India keep hold of their review.
4th over: Australia 17-2, (Mooney 4, McGrath 9) Vastrakar continues with a packed slip cordon. Shot! McGrath crunches a drive through the covers for four to release a hiss of pressure. And again! A length ball is flayed through the covers with fast hands and aplomb. The outfield looks quick and the ball is coming onto the bat nicely, there is also some early movement though, as Perry found out to her cost.
Ellyse Perry is bowled by Pooja Vastrakar. Photograph: Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images
Ellyse Perry has now been dismissed bowled in each of her last 2 Test innings
Before that, she was only bowled once in her entire Test career#INDvAUS
3rd over: Australia 9-2, (Mooney 4, McGrath 1) And breathe. The camera pans to Alyssa Healy in the dugout sporting a nervous smile. A single each to Mooney and McGrath off Renuka.
STREWTH! Perry’s timbers are splattered by a vicious in-ducker from Vastrakar! India are off to a flier! That was a good ball to get early in the innings, a slightly tentative forward defence from Australia’s lynchpin and the ball zipped through the gap between bat and pad. Tahlia McGrath is the new batter, I haven’t managed a slurp of coffee yet – can everyone stop getting out!
Pooja Vastrakar celebrates clean bowling Ellyse Perry at Wankhede Stadium. Photograph: Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images
2nd over: Australia 7-2, Mooney 3, McGrath 0)
1st over: Australia 2-1, (Mooney 2, Perry 0) What a start for India! They are cock-a-hoop in Mumbai. Ellyse Perry is the new batter as Beth Mooney stares up to the skies, she can’t believe what she’s done there, all that time in the match and a split second of indecision over a non-existent single has cost her partner big time. Litchfield trudges off crestfallen.
Gone for a diamond duck without facing a ball! Mooney poked into the off side and stuttered mid-pitch, I think she’s barbecued her partner there!
India celebrates an early wicket on Day 1 of the one-off Test against Australia. Photograph: Pankaj Nangia
Here we go, Phoebe Litchfield and Beth Mooney take guard. Renuka Singh has the new red ball in her mitts – PLAY!
My tv has just cranked into life with live pictures from Mumbai. It looks sunny and hot at the Wankhede. It’s dark and twinkly here in south London, I’m on the sofa at the side of the Christmas tree and all is quiet, the distant trills of my toddler snore-breathing waft down the hallway. It’s 4am – let’s hope she stays in the land of nod for this first session.
The players are emerging onto the pitch for the anthems. The pitch is butterscotch in colour and covered in crazy paving cracks that should open up and be conducive to turn as the match progresses. It should be a belter to bat on first up, Australia will be looking to make a decent total and put some pressure on India. Time to make a quick pre-dawn coffee, back in a tickle of Kenco for the start of the action!
Say hello 👋 to #TeamIndia's newest Test debutant - Richa Ghosh! ☺️
A moment to celebrate for the youngster & her family as she receives her Test cap from vice-captain @mandhana_smriti 👏 👏
— Australian Women's Cricket Team 🏏 (@AusWomenCricket) December 21, 2023
Alyssa Healy calls the coin correctly in her first official outing as Captain and she decides to have first use of the Wankhede pitch.
Hello and welcome to a slice of modern cricketing history. Despite all of the progress across the women’s game over the last few years, Test matches are still largely rarer than hen’s dentures. This game at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai is a case in point - it has been nigh on forty years since India hosted Australia in a women’s Test match on home soil, a time long before any of the players in the current squads were born.
That four Test series way back in 1984 (nineteeneightyfourrrr) ended in a stalemate and the two nations last duked it out in the longest format in Carrara in 2021, a day/night Test with a pink ball that also ended in a draw.
And yet, despite what I’ve just typed, Harmanpreet’s India face the challenge of playing the mighty Australia under a new leader -Meg Lanning has handed the gilded reins to Alyssa Healy - just four days after completing a Test match on home soil against England.
The Test against England was a thumping victory for the home side but this contest promises to be a whole lot tighter. Healy is looking to start a new era of dominance across formats for the green and gold and gave a perky press conference a day out from the start of the match that showed no signs of nerves whilst paying homage to her predecessor:
They are unbelievably huge shoes to fill in replacing Meg Lanning,” Healy said yesterday. “The success she had as not only a player but as a leader of the Australian cricket team is fairly unmatched right around the men’s and women’s game. Big shoes to fill on my part but one that’s really exciting to me. Bring it on, India is a big challenge!”
India have the advantage of home conditions but Australia are no slouches in the spin department with the likes of Ash Gardner, Jess Jonassen and Alana King at their disposal. The match offers up an intriguing battle between two gun sides tussling for a rare (and standalone) red ball gong ahead of the six white ball matches that make up the multi-format aspect of the tour to come over the coming weeks.
I’m here with you for the first half of the day before Tanya swoops in to guide you home later. Play gets underway at 9.30am local time which is an eyebag inducing 4am (!) here in London. I’ll be back shortly, likely jacked up on caffeine, to bring you news of the teams and the toss.
