Australia v India: one-off women’s cricket Test, day one – live

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3rd over: India 8-0 (Smriti Mandhana 2, Shafali Verma 4) There aren’t huge numbers in at the WACA, unless they’re camera shy. Perhaps there will be an after-work influx. Brown has the ball swinging, Verma doesn’t look entirely secure.

2nd over: India 5-0 (Smriti Mandhana 2, Shafali Verma 2) Test debutant Hamilton charges in, tall , strong, long chestnut ponytail resting down her back. A couple of runs for Verma past Perry, whose quad injury may be slowing her movement. Hamilton is keen on an lbw shout, and Healy agrees so they ask upstairs – but no joy as there’s an inside edge onto the pad - though the ball looped back in very nicely. Australia lose a review.

1st over: India 3-0 (Smriti Mandhana 2, Shafali Verma 0) Darcie Brown with the new ball, up against the woman with the highest strike rate of any female Test player and the finest cover driver in all Illyria. But a fairly quiet first over: a wide, and a couple of runs through the covers.

The cameras spot Mitch Starc on the boundary edge, both him and Healy with a best Test score of 99. Australia huddle and then Healy leads the team out, tugging down her baggy green as she strides out.

Blue blue skies and a healthy wind at the WACA as the teams line up for the anthems. Healy is beaming.

India XI - four Test debuts

Test debuts for Kranti Gaud, Kashvee Gautam, Pratika Rawal, Sayali Satghare.

India Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Kashvee Gautam, Sneh Rana, Sayali Satghare, Kranti Gaud.

Australia XI - Hamilton and Perry play

A Test debut for left-arm quick Lucy Hamilton, while Ellyse Perry plays as a batter.

Australia: Phoebe Litchfield, Georgia Voll, Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy (capt), Annabel Sutherland, Beth Mooney (wk), Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath, Alana King, Lucy Hamilton, Darcie Brown.

Australia win the toss and bowl!

Healy says she was torn but there was lots of grass on the surface yesterday. Harmanpreet would have fielded first too.

Preamble

Hello! Welcome to the first day of this one-off pink ball Test at the Waca, the last hurrah of the Australia-India series, and a grand four-day farewell to Australia captain Alyssa Healy, who prepares to un-velcro her pads one final time, aged 35, and leave a glorious career billowing behind her.

This will be Healy’s 299th match for Australia, but only her eleventh Test, such is the scarcity of women’s Test cricket – something else to mull over during the next four days. She’s never made a Test hundred, but if her blazing 158 in her final ODI is anything to go by, you wouldn’t bet against her ticking one last box on her way out.

Australia lead the multi-format series 8-4, so India will need the four points that come with a Test victory to level things up. They were fantastic in the T20 matches, which they won 2-1, but faded in the 50-over stuff, which Australia whitewashed 3-0.

Australia romped home in their last Test, against a demoralised England in January 2025, 16-0 and all that; while it’s been 20 months since India played in whites, thrashing South Africa by 10 wickets in Chennai.

With the grassy banks at Perth renamed Healy Hill, Australia want a celebration for their much-loved captain. India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur will have other ideas.

Play starts at 1.20pm local/4.20pm AEDT/10.50am IST. Pull up a chair and join us!