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On the last day of the match between Australia A and India A, Tess Flintoff’s two wickets in four balls proved to be the difference as the visitors had threatened to shut down their target.
Uma Chetry and Raghvi Bist put up a seventh-wicket stand of 79, with the latter looking good on the final morning, but Flintoff altered the course of play just as the target of 289 was beginning to come into sight. To take away India A’s final two primary batting options, she had Chetry splice a draw into the leg side first, and then she got one through Bist.
After three overs, Mannat Kashyap pulled Maitlan Brown to mid-on for Australia A’s ninth, almost guaranteeing the home team’s triumph. But they had to work hard to finish after a last-wicket stand of 24, and captain Charlie Knott took the last wicket after Sayali Satghare chipped a return catch.
“It was a bit nerve-racking at the start. They put on 60 runs or so without a wicket lost,” Knott said. “But we knew once we got one wicket we would get the rest, so we just had to stick in there. They were going pretty aggressive, so we knew something would come.
“Day one we felt a little bit nervous, not putting in a great performance with the bat, but the bowling group has managed to do an awesome job and also the second innings with the bat, our lower order really fought to get us to a defendable total.”
Georgia Voll’s opening-day score of 71 and Kate Peterson’s five-wicket haul gave Australia A a slim advantage. Legspinner Grace Parsons put up an important all-round performance with 70 runs in two innings at No. 10 and two wickets in India’s chase, while Maddy Darke struck an incredible century in the second innings.
India A’s three-format tour came to an end with this fiercely competitive four-day match. The longer the journey, the better they played. Australia A won the one-dayers 2-1 and the Twenty20s 3-0.