For the visitors, Poonam Yadav claimed 3 for 28 while Vastrakar and Deepti impressed with a middle-order fightback
Australians 278 for 9 (Haynes 65, Lanning 59, Mooney 59, Yadav 3-28) beat Indians 242 for 7 (Vastrakar 57, Sharma 49*, Campbell 3-38) by 36 runs
Rachael Haynes, Meg Lanning and Beth Mooney all struck half-centuries while uncapped pace bowler Stella Campbell pushed her claims for a debut in the upcoming ODI series as the Australians secured a 36-run victory over the Indians in their warm-up match in Brisbane.
For the visitors, legspinner Poonam Yadav, who toppled Australia in the opening match of the T20 World Cup last year, claimed 3 for 28 while a middle-order fightback from Pooja Vastrakar (57) and Deepti Sharma (49 not out) gave the Indians a chance of hauling in the target before the chase fizzled out in the last 10 overs.
With the entire Indian squad and 12 of the 18 Australian players having only emerged from hard quarantine at the beginning of the week this was an important outing to tune up ahead of the internationals which start on Tuesday.
Jhulan Goswami struck early when Alyssa Healy fell in the seventh over, but Haynes and Lanning then added 118 in 18 overs before the Indians struck back by taking 3 for 2 in six balls. Haynes (65 off 71) and Ellyse Perry were both run out while Lanning (59 off 57) became Yadav’s first wicket when she was stumped.
The rebuild came from Mooney (59 off 52) and Ash Gardner as they added 63 for the fifth wicket. After Yadav had claimed two more scalps – those of Tahlia McGrath and Sophie Molineux – Annabel Sutherland and Georgia Wareham gave a reminder of Australia’s batting depth by adding 37.
Perry, who is expected to play a senior role in a pace attack lacking Megan Schutt and Tayla Vlaeminck, struck twice in her opening spell when she bowled Smriti Mandhana in the fourth over then had captain Mithali Raj brilliantly caught at slip by Mooney in the sixth.
Shafali Verma ensured the Indians scored briskly, hitting five boundaries in a 21-ball 27, before becoming Campbell’s first wicket and when she struck again to remove Richa Ghosh it was four down inside 15 overs.
The uncapped Yastika Bhatia produced an encouraging display with a run-a-ball 41 before falling to the left-arm spin of Molineux to leave the Indians 106 for 5.
As the Australians rotated through 11 bowlers – there was no limit on the number of players who could be used – Vastrakar and Sharma added 89 in 21 overs. Hannah Darlington, who had impressed in the intra-squad game two days ago, went at under four an over in five overs while spinners Gardner, Wareham and Molly Strano were also economical.
The teams will travel to Mackay on Sunday ahead of the first ODI on Tuesday. The multi-format tour, which will be played with the points-based system, also includes the day-night Test at Metricon Stadium followed by three T20Is.
Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo
Source: ESPN Crickinfo