Australia v South Africa women’s cricket Test: Aussies put defiant South Africa to the sword in mammoth victory
Australia has recorded the second-biggest win in Test history after a plucky South Africa couldn’t withstand the prolonged heat in Perth.
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Australia has wrapped up the second-largest Test victory in history as player of the match Annabel Sutherland helped clean-up the tail to secure an innings and 284-run defeat over South Africa at the WACA.
The visitors were defiant on day three as Delmi Tucker, Tazmin Brits and Chloe Tryon all dug deep to eat into Australia’s massive lead. But in the end, the class of Australia’s spinners and some clinical bowling with the second new-ball proved too good as the Test finished with a day to spare.
Darcie Brown and Kim Garth piled on the pressure early on Saturday with the latter producing three maidens in a row to start the day. Yet it was the Proteas with the momentum as Tucker, who was dismissed for a golden duck in the first innings, brought up her maiden half-century in her debut Test.
It took a sensational catch from Phoebe Litchfield to bring the 96-run partnership to an end, diving forward to get her hands low after Ellyse Perry drew an edge from Brits. The stand was the highest fourth-wicket partnership in Test matches for South Africa as they slowly made inroads on Australia’s mammoth 432-run lead at the start of the day’s play.
The dismissal didn’t phase Tucker who continued to play with a sense of confidence and composure, showcasing the patience required to prosper in the game’s longest format in just her second-ever innings.
After building their way to 4-140 at lunch, Australian captain Alyssa Healy turned to her spinners who put the clamps on the South Africans.
Gardner, Sophie Molineux and Alana King bowled beautifully with the visitors only scoring 28 runs in 26 overs after the main break.
It was the reigning Belinda Clark Award-winner who landed the biggest blow, taking a smart caught and bowled chance to bring Tucker’s innings to an end for 64 off 181 deliveries. She then followed it up by drawing the edge of Nadine de Klerk to bring her side within four wickets of victory.
Chloe Tryon continued to toil away, bringing up her half-century and the highest score of her Test career, but it was a lone hand as Brown inflicted more damage with the new ball.
She survived until the tea break but Sutherland continued to have the Midas touch after the break, taking two wickets to help end the South African innings on 215. The 22-year-old became the first Australian to ever make a double century and take five wickets in a Test match, and just the fourth player in history in men’s or women’s matches.
The result was Australia’s first Test win at home since 2011. It also wraps up the multi-format series against South Africa with the final score at 12-4.
Following their disappointing first innings total of 76, South Africa’s improved second innings performance highlights the need for more red-ball cricket to be placed on the women’s international calendar.
Tucker and Brits’ 245-ball partnership was a clear example of batters taking time to adjust to conditions and eventually feeling comfortable. Australia found themselves in a similar scenario in December during their one-off Test against India after a poor first innings meant they were always chasing the game.
“There is no real time to learn, adapt and find a style of play,” Alyssa Healy said after that match.
“Imagine playing two more [Tests]. That would be an unbelievable experience for our group and probably a true test of both side’s abilities.
“In a one-off Test [with] India playing in their home conditions, you’d expect them to be heavy favourites.”
Australia’s dominant showing at the WACA is their third Test in the space of nine months and it’s clear the players are benefiting from the experience. Sutherland’s superb double hundred and Brown’s use of the new ball is the perfect example of young players embracing and thriving in Test cricket.
“Every time we play a Test we learn something and we just make sure that we keep learning and we keep banking that knowledge,” Australian coach Shelley Nitschke said in the lead-up to the match.
“I think the more we play the better we get. I think slowly we’re building up that knowledge and those scenarios that come up and starting to get some real experience to say, ‘I’ve been in this position before, this is what I need to do’.
“I certainly think that the more we play, the better we get. It’s been really good to play three in the past nine months.”
The renewed focus on red-ball cricket from Cricket Australia has been clear, including a new three-day domestic match to take place in March for players not involved in the WPL.
But it’s important that other countries are also afforded that opportunity. There are only two more Test matches scheduled on the current ICC Future Tours Program which ends in April 2025 – an Ashes Test in Australia and a South Africa-England Test in December.
South Africa’s revitalised endeavour on Saturday, and improved Test tactics from Australia, should be an illustration of the benefit of more matches with players making it known that they want a chance to play even more red-ball cricket.
“It’s difficult playing a Test match without playing much domestic red-ball stuff,” South African captain Laura Wolvaardt said before the match.
“I love Test cricket and I think it’s the coolest form or the purest form of the game. It’s something that I think would suit my game as well and I haven’t really gotten a chance to play a lot of.”
HEARTBREAK FOR HEALY AFTER DIGGING AUSSIES OUT OF COLLAPSE
Alyssa Healy heartbreakingly missed the chance to conquer the final frontier of her illustrious career, but still fulfilled a challenge she set herself when she became Australian captain.
Healy appeared certain to score her maiden Test century before the stunning disappointment of playing her first false shot of the innings to be out caught and bowled in the shadow of stumps on day one for 99, a cruel fate that once also befell her husband, Mitchell Starc.
The Australian skipper told herself upon stepping into Meg Lanning’s shoes as captain that she wanted to draw on her predecessors innate ability to carry her team on her shoulders … and she did just that on Thursday night even if the brilliant counter-attacking knock ended in utter shock and disbelief.
Out for 99! 💔
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) February 15, 2024
Alyssa Healy falls one short of a Test century - as Tucker takes her first Test wicket! #PlayOfTheDay | @hcltech | #AUSvSApic.twitter.com/eBEinOAGr2
After obliterating South Africa in the first session of the Test to bowl them out for 76, Australia suddenly found itself on the brink of its own crisis in response at 3-12.
That was before Beth Mooney (78) and Healy (99 off 124) combined for a match-altering partnership that steered Australia to a commanding 175-run lead as they finished the day 5-251.
Cricket’s iconic Wild West had another tale of destruction to tell after Australian quick Darcie Brown ransacked South Africa … but the carnage only continued when Phoebe Litchfield was out in the first over and Ellyse Perry and Tahlia McGrath followed cheaply soon after.
Enter A. Healy.
Along with the world’s premier batter Mooney, Healy resurrected the innings in oppressive 40 degree conditions with a trademark counter-attacking knock, and after the tea break, the Australians found another gear to leave the South African total in their wake.
Healy suffered a potentially career-threatening injury at the start of the summer when she was bitten on the hand by her dog in a freak accident.
But Healy has shaken off the setback and extinguished any doubts about the long-term impact on her precious keeping and batting fingers.
However, devastatingly she missed out on notching what would have been a signature moment of her career.
The Australian captain openly admitted after last year’s drawn Ashes that she had learned big lessons about the challenge of leading her country, and she was again tested in India over the summer when the Aussies suffered a rare Test match trouncing.
But stepping into the very large shoes of Lanning, Healy has proven herself to be another one of those special captains who leads from the front – a trait she didn’t feel she possessed when she took on the captaincy.
“What I’ve learned from Meg over her leadership is how resilient she is and also her ability to just pick up all of the team, put them on her shoulders and go, ‘I’m gonna go out there and win the game for my side’”, Healy said when she took over as captain.
“That probably hasn’t always been the way that I’ve played my cricket and it’s probably not been the way that I’ve led either. But I mean, if I can find some sort of middle ground in that regard and go, ‘You know what, it’s my time to go out there and win the game or play the innings or take the catch that wins it’, then I’m going to do that as a leader and hopefully show the others that we can do it.”
It was a horror couple of hours for South African cricket in general, as the Protea men collapsed to lose 6-33 in New Zealand at the same time five-wicket hero Brown and pace twin Annabel Sutherland sent the rainbow nation’s women packing for 76, their lowest ever Test score.
This is only the second Test South Africa’s women have played in the past decade, and it showed as Australia very nearly bowled them out in the first session of the match, leaving them completely rattled at 8-55 at lunch.
Brown’s spectacular 5-21 was not only her best Test match bowling figures, but was the first five-wicket haul of her international career overall as the 20-year-old announced herself as a genuine star of the future.
Sutherland was also mesmerising with her 3-19 from 9 overs, and at one point was on a hat-trick after dismissing South Africa batting star Tazmin Brits and Test debutant Delmi Tucker in successive balls.
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Originally published as Australia v South Africa women’s cricket Test: Aussies put defiant South Africa to the sword in mammoth victory
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