Wagging tail boosts wobbly Aussies as diamond duck sparks poor start in historic India Test

Wrist spinner Georgia Wareham was left out of the Australian Test side in a surprise selection decision as left-arm quick Lauren Cheatle was named to make her debut.

Cheatle, who first played for Australia as a teenager in 2016, returns to international cricket for the first time in nearly five years in Mumbai for the Test against India.

The 25-year-old swing bowler has endured shoulder reconstructions and a cancer scare in 2021 that threatened to derail her career but earnt a call-up to the Test squad last month off the back of strong WBBL form and will take on a new ball role alongside Kim Garth at Wankhede Stadium.

Australian captain Alyssa Healy said she expected conditions to favour spin bowling and suggested only one specialist quick would be taken into the game, but the tourists opted to leave out Wareham, with Jess Jonassen, Alana King and Ashes hero Ash Gardner to carry the spin-bowling duties.

Wareham was also left out of the Ashes Test, with her sole red-ball game against India on the Gold Coast in 2021.

India made one change to the side that demolished England by 347 runs in their Test clash last week, with Richa Ghosh replacing Satheesh Shubha, who suffered a broken finger while warming up on the second day of the match.

– with Ed Bourke, NCA Newswire

MATCH PREVIEW

Australia’s historic multi-format tour of India will not employ a points system after an eleventh-hour decision from the BCCI to treat each series in isolation.

Alyssa Healy’s first assignment as national captain following Meg Lanning’s retirement from international cricket gets underway on Thursday with a Test match against India at Wankhede Stadium. It will be Australia’s first Test in India since 1984, followed by three ODIs and three T20Is.

However, unlike the 2021 series between the two nations in Australia, no overall winner will be determined following the seven games, with the BCCI opting against the popular points-based system that has been used for the women’s Ashes since 2013. Rather than awarding two points for wins in limited-over matches and four for a Test triumph, each format will have its own series victory.

According to cricket.com.au, Cricket Australia had flown across the ‘India-Australia series trophy’ in anticipation of another multi-format contest; Healy’s side has been in possession of the silverware since toppling India 11-5 during their previous bilateral encounter.

“I can see value and merit in making them all separate and sort of rewarding the wins as you go; I can see the merit in that,” Healy told reporters in Mumbai on Wednesday.

“But on the flip side of that, we’ve been a part of a few multi-format series where the points system has come into play and it’s given the Test match in particular a greater context, in my mind.

“And this might be a little bit cheeky, I would have thought that India would have backed themselves in their home conditions and got off to a four-nil start, so it does surprise me a little bit.

“But at the same time, it’ll be cool to just battle it out for three separate trophies.”

Australia announced its starting XI at the toss, with the tourists weighing up whether to select four strike spinners; during last week’s Test between India and England at the same venue, 23 of the 36 wickets fell to spin.

“The conditions look very dry – there’s a little bit of green grass on there, which is probably unusual for (India), but it looks very bare to us,” Healy said.

“So in that regard, I think it’s going to be a real challenge. I think if you get the opportunity to bat first, you’re going to need to bat long and bat well and try and bat the opposition out of the game.”

Uncapped seamer Lauren Cheatle, who will return home ahead of the white-ball fixtures against India, is expected to make her Test debut if Australia settles with a three-spin attack.

“I think we’ve got some really hard decisions to make, which is also incredibly pleasing from our point of view, and some people that are going to be really disappointed sitting on the bench knowing that all the players in our squad that could come into the XI would do a fantastic job,” Healy explained.

“We’re blessed to have three world-class all-rounders in our top five or six that are able to bowl some seam for us as well.

“We’ve got so many options within our side that I think whatever XI we decide to go on the park with tomorrow is going to be the best XI for the job and can hopefully get it done.

“Conditions hasn’t really dictated it too much, it’s just more about how we’re going to take 20 wickets and hopefully win a Test match.”

In ten previous encounters, dating back to 1977, India has never beaten Australia in a women’s Test. Meanwhile, the Australians have not lost a Test match against any opposition since 2014.

The historic Test got underway on Thursday at 3pm AEDT.

Australian squad

Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Lauren Cheatle (Test only), Heather Graham, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris (T20s only), Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham

Indian squad

Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Shubha Satheesh, Harleen Deol, Saika Ishaque, Renuka Singh Thakur, Titas Sadhu, Meghna Singh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Pooja Vastrakar

India vs Australia Fixtures

December 21-24: Test match, Wankhede Stadium

December 28: First ODI, Wankhede Stadium

December 30: Second ODI, Wankhede Stadium

January 2: Third ODI, Wankhede Stadium

January 5: First T20I, DY Patil Stadium

January 7: Second T20I, DY Patil Stadium

January 9: Third T20I, DY Patil Stadium