Australia 323 (Sutherland 129, Perry 76, Satghare 4-50) and 28 for 0 (Voll 16*, Litchfield 11*) beat India 198 (Rodrigues 52, Sutherland 4-46) and 149 (Rawal 63, Rana 30, Hamilton 3-32, Gardner 2-8, Sutherland 2-15, King 2-23) by ten wickets
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.
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.
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.
