It was a fine spell of leg-spin bowling by Priya Mishra, who returned with impressive five-wicket hauls, that helped India 'A' register a convincing 171-run win over Australia 'A' in the third 50-over match at the Great Barrier Reef Arena on Sunday. With this win, though, Australia 'A' clinched the series 2-1.
India 'A' made 243/9 on the back of half-centuries from Tejal Hasabnis and Raghvi Bist. Priya Mishra then took a wicket off the first ball, returning highly impressive figures of 5-14 from five overs with two maidens as she reduced Australia 'A' to 72 in 22.1 overs.
S Yashasri and Meghna Singh sent back Charli Knott and captain Tahlia McGrath, respectively, in the run chase while Australia were only on 19/2. Priya took centre stage, removing opener Maddy Darke, followed by Tess Flintoff—Australia 'A' was reeling at 52/4 in 14.4 overs. She followed it up with the wickets of Nicole Faltum and Kate Peterson lbw in quick succession and then cleaned up Nicola Hancock. Captain Minnu Mani chipped in with two wickets to seal the win for India 'A.'.
Earlier, a vital 104-run partnership between Raghvi and Tejal bailed out India 'A' from a precarious position – for the third time in succession – when the pair retrieved the team's innings. The stand came after early wickets left India 'A' gasping at 27/3 in the first ten overs.
Both Raghvi and Tejal struck seven boundaries apiece during their fifties as India 'A' soared to 147 runs until Tejal's fall in the 28th over at Kate's hands. Soon Raghvi too fell - bowled by Charli-, and India 'A' were now facing a daunting task to touch the 200-run mark.
But useful blows from Sajeevan Sajana and Minnu helped India 'A' to cross the 200-run mark, laying the platform for the team's only win in this multi-format tour. The two teams will next play a one-off red-ball game in Gold Coast on August 22.
Brief Scores:
- India 'A': 243/9 (Raghvi Bist 53, Tejal Hasabnis 50; Maitlan Brown 3-39, Charli Knott 2-26)
- Australia 'A': 72 in 22.1 overs (Maddy Darke 22; Priya Mishra 5-14) - India 'A' won by 171 runs
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