Retiring skipper Alyssa Healy did not get a chance to bat one last time, but she ended her legendary international career on a winning note after Australia crushed India inside three days in the one-off, day-night Test at the WACA ground in Perth. The one-sided result meant Australia recorded a decisive 12-4 triumph on points in the multi-format series.

Seam bowling had dominated the opening two days on a grassy surface, but spinners Alana King and Ash Gardner claimed the final four wickets as India’s second innings came to a close just over an hour into the day’s play.

No. 3 Pratika Rawal played a lone hand on debut with 63 off 137 balls and she was the last wicket to fall with India leading by only 24 runs. Having led her team off the field to a thunderous ovation, Healy resisted the temptation to put the pads on as regular openers Georgia Voll and Phoebe Litchfield walked out for the chase.

Voll was adjudged lbw by debutant Sayali Satghare, who claimed four wickets in Australia’s first innings, in the second over but was successful on review as she and Litchfield made light work of the chase.

In the aftermath, Healy was swamped by her team-mates with Gardner and Ellyse Perry lifting her on their shoulders in heartwarming scenes.

It capped a terrific bounceback for Australia after a 2-1 defeat in the T20I leg in an underwhelming start to Sophie Molineux’s captaincy reign. Healy’s return ignited Australia as they thumped World Cup champions India 3-0 in the ODI series before they claimed their first Test victory over India since 2006.

Annabel Sutherland was the standout after an astounding all-round performance, where she made an imperious 129 and returned match figures of 6 for 61 off 23 overs.

It was a disappointment for an India side returning to Test cricket after mid-2024, although they had solid contributions from debutants Rawal, Satghare, Kranti Gaud and Kashvee Gautam. The defeat was India’s first in Test cricket since February 2006 when they lost to Australia in Adelaide, ending an unblemished run of nine straight matches.

India resumed their second innings in a forlorn position at 105 for 6 and still needing 20 runs to make Australia bat again. India’s slim hopes rested on Rawal and Sneh Rana,  who had defied Australia’s charge under lights on day two to prolong the match.

Having only bowled three overs in the match, King was handed the ball much to the delight of the local fans and she spun the ball sharply to beat the bat on several occasions.

Unlike several of her more experienced team-mates, Rawal was unruffled and calmly defended while putting away the rare loose delivery to reach a deserved half-century off 105 balls.

Darcie Brown created Australia’s first chance when she had Rana edging to second slip, where Sutherland could not complete a blinder of a one-handed catch high to her right. Rana remained unconvincing and was lucky when she edged between the wicketkeeper and first slip before being clean bowled on the next delivery by Gardner.

Gautam had made a well-compiled 34 not out to bump up India’s first-innings total, but she had no answer for King to fall for a duck before Rawal’s resistance came to an end.

The truncated match was also the long-awaited official launch of the revamped WACA ground with plenty of patrons enjoying the new outdoor pool and waterslides in the terraces amid sweltering heat. Crowds of around 3500 attended each of the opening two days at a ground with a 10,000 capacity

Brief scores:
Australia Women 323 in 90.4 overs (Annabel Sutherland 129, Ellyse Perry 76; Sayali Satghare 4-50, Kranti Gaud 2-72. Deepti Sharma 2-67) and 28 in 4.3 over [Georgia Litchfield 11*)Voll 16*,  beat India Women 198 in 62.4 overs (Jemmimah Rodrigues 52. Kashvee Gautam 34*; Darcie Brown 2-41, Lucy Hamilton 3-31, Annabel Sutherland 4-46) and 149 in 48.2  overs (Pratika Rawal 63, Sneh Rana 30; Lucy Hamilton 3-32, Annabel Sutherland 2-15. Alana King 2-23, Ashleigh Gardner 2-08)  by 10 wickets 

[Cricinfo]

Mitchell Santner won the toss in the final and elected to chase in Ahmedabad. Chasing in the night has been the way to go in matches between evenly matched side, but India have come to the final having launched a successful defence of a total in a night-time knockout match for the first time since the 2014 World Cup semi-final.

After all the talk of an offspinner against India’s left-hand heavy top order, New Zealand omitted to play the one who took out Quinton de Kock and Ryan Rickelton in one over in the semi-final. They instead gave Cole McConchie’s place to tall seamer Jacob Duffy. Amateur lip-readers suggested Suryakumar Yadav, India’s captain, asked Santner “no offspinner?” when the two captains exchanged team sheets.

In McConchie’s absence, New Zealand do have an offpsin option, that of Glenn Phillips, who didn’t bowl in the last match but was a handful on turning tracks in Test cricket when New Zealand whitewashed India in 2024-25.

India continued to put their faith in mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who went at 11.6 per over in the Super Eight. Eight of his leakiest sppells have come in the last two-and-a-half months. However, he has also picked up at least one wicket in his last 21 matches, the fourth-longest such streak.

As expected, Abhishek Sharma kept his place despite a run of low scores. He has scored only one half-century in this World Cup.

India  Abhishek Sharma,  Sanju Samson (wk),  Ishan Kishan,  Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (capt.),  Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube,  Axar Patel,  Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah,  Varun Chakravarthy.

New Zealand  Tim Seifert (wk),  Finn Allen,  Rachin Ravindra,  Glenn Phillips,  Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell,  Mitchell Santner (capt),  Jimmy Neesham, Jacob Duffy,  Matt Henry,  Lockie Ferguson

Mick Hunt,  MCC’s legendary former head groundsman, who oversaw pitch preparation at Lord’s for 49 years, has died.

Hunt joined the Lord’s groundstaff in December 1969 and became head groundsman in 1985 following the retirement of Jim Fairbrother.

He finally stepped down from the role in 2018, after a career that spanned 81 Test matches, more than 80 men’s and women’s limited-overs games (including eight World Cup finals across formats) and countless county fixtures for Middlesex.

Angus Fraser, the former England and Middlesex seamer whose own association with Lord’s spans five decades, led the tributes to Hunt on the club website.

“In the long and rich history of this wonderful ground it is hard to believe that anybody has done more to maintain its beauty than Mick Hunt,” Fraser wrote.

“To say that Mick was a character would be an understatement. He was an absolute legend. He cared deeply for the turf he looked after for 49 years, and did his utmost to ensure it looked and played immaculately, no matter the importance of the game that was taking place.”

Hunt’s final Test pitch was prepared for India’s visit in August 2018, but arguably his most challenging had come six years before that, in the wake of the 2012 Olympics, when Lord’s was the venue for the Archery competition.

England’s Test against South Africa took place just 12 days after the conclusion of that event, and in addition to preparing the wicket at short notice after the venue had been under the auspices of the IOC, Hunt’s challenge included returfing almost a third of the outfield following the dismantling of temporary stands that had been erected either side of the central strip.

South Africa won a thrilling Test match by 51 runs, and the pitch was subsequently rated as very good by the match referee. Hunt was subsequently named world groundsman of the year for the achievement.

[Cricinfo]