India 198 and 105 for 6 (Rawal 43*, Hamilton 3-32) trail Australia 323 (Sutherland 129, Perry 76, Satghare 4-50) by 20 runs
Annabel Sutherland continued to produce heroics on the WACA ground after an imperious century was followed by superb bowling under lights late on day two as Australia moved to the brink of a crushing victory over India in the pink-ball Test.
On what has been a challenging surface, Sutherland made batting look like a breeze with her commanding 129 off 171 balls in Australia’s first innings grinding down India’s attack amid sweltering heat hitting 40 degrees Celsius.
It was her third straight Test ton and continued her affection for the WACA ground having memorably made 210 against South Africa two years ago. Sutherland’s average in Test cricket is now an astonishing 89.37 after 10 innings and her four tons are the most by an Australian.
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Australia’s first innings was dominated by Sutherland and Ellyse Perry, with the pair combining for a 128-run fourth-wicket partnership. Perry, playing as a specialist batter after recovering from a quad strain, cracked 76 off 116 balls and in the process became Australia’s all-time leading run-scorer in Test cricket after passing Karen Rolton, who made 1002 runs from 1995-2009.
She backed up in the final session with the wickets of Jemimah Rodrigues and captain Harmanpreet Kaur as India capitulated in their second innings. There was the slim chance of another two-day Test in this Australian season but debutant Pratika Rawal and Sneh Rana held firm in the last 25 minutes.
Trailing by 125 runs, India’s second innings started disastrously when Darcie Brown claimed a wicket on the second delivery with Smriti Mandhana bowled off the inside edge in shades of her first innings dismissal.
Left-armer Lucy Hamilton continued her outstanding debut when she nicked off Shafali Verma before Rodrigues came out blazing. But she had something of a brain fade after unfurling the ramp shot to disastrous results before Harmpanpreet was caught at third slip.
Lucy Hamilton took two wickets in the same over Getty Images
Hamilton was keen to wrap things up after dismissing Deepti Sharma – a superb set-up with a bouncer followed by a fuller delivery which zipped between bat and pad – and Richa Ghosh within the space of three deliveries.
Even though India hung on to reach stumps, Australia are almost certain to claim victory and a decisive 12-4 triumph in the multi-format series.
There remains an unknown whether skipper Alyssa Healy will bat again in the final match of her legendary international career.
Australia resumed at 96 for 3 at the start of the day’s play and were ominously poised after Sutherland and Perry defied India’s surge under lights on the previous night.
They relished the easier batting conditions under the baking sun as India quickly wilted with their new pace attack unable to conjure the type of rampant swing that troubled the Australia batters late on day one.
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Harmanpreet desperately rang the changes, with six bowlers used in the opening hour and she resorted to spin which only accounted for one of the 13 wickets on the first day.
Perry reached a 70-ball half-century in style when she smashed Rana over the deep midwicket boundary for just the second six of her Test career.
She also showed deft touch to pierce gaps in the field and keep a flagging India side feeling flustered. Sutherland also reached her half-century in 70 balls and she was in fine touch with arguably her best stroke of the session being a glorious straight drive that rocketed to the boundary.
It appeared that the pair were in for the very long haul until Perry out of nowhere was hit on the pads by Deepti after playing back to a delivery that didn’t bounce as much as she expected.
India’s catching has been mostly outstanding – the one facet where they’ve bettered their counterparts so far in this match – other than Rana dropping a straightforward chance at slip on Beth Mooney’s second ball.
Mooney was scratchy but still provided support for Sutherland in an important 56-run partnership that soared Australia into a first innings lead. Sutherland went into the tea break unbeaten on 93 and she didn’t have long to wait to reach her milestone although it was reached in ungainly fashion after a top-edge flew to the boundary.
She raised her bat to all parts of the terraces, where her father James Sutherland – the former Cricket Australia chief executive – was beaming with pride just like he did last month at the same ground when Will Sutherland scored a century for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield.
Pratika Rawal fought for India in the second innings Getty Images
Australia had moved into a commanding position with India looking on the brink of spiralling until they unexpectedly hit back with four quick wickets. Mooney was brilliantly caught at short extra cover by Rodrigues, who snared her third brilliant catch of the innings.
Debutant Kranti Gaud had a tougher time of it in the day conditions after impressing under lights, but her persistence was rewarded when she bowled Ashleigh Gardner.
Sutherland had made batting look far easier than everyone else, but her brilliant knock finally ended when she wearily holed out as Australia were in danger of letting their stranglehold slip.
But Hamilton and Alana King added an important 34-run partnership for the ninth wicket as Australia stretched their innings into the final session. Hamilton showed why she is rated a potential allrounder after making 23 off 54 balls – the third highest score of the innings.
They batted long enough to ensure that India’s batters had to face the music under the lights.
