Australia v India Test, Day Two Report Card
Featuring special relativity, petulance and following Jemimah's lead
Special Relativity
Grade: A-
The day began ominously for India. Oh, sure, they were still more than a hundred runs ahead, but Australia had Ellyse Perry and Annabel Sutherland at the crease, with the next three batters the formidable matter of Beth Mooney, Ash Gardner and Tahlia McGrath.
(Can you have formidable matter? Yes! Einstein proved that formidable matter is equivalent to formidable energy, as outlined in his famously formidable equation, e = mc². In this relationship, c is the speed of light, and you don’t get much more formidable than that!)
But enough special relativity patter. Let’s instead revert back to those relatively special batters, Perry and Sutherland.
Perry, batting at three, had the head start on her younger partner and was the first to reach major milestones, zipping past Karen Rolton to become the highest run-scorer for Australian women in Tests. A fine effort for a cricketer who began her career as an ODI bowler, coming in at number nine.
Oh, and a couple of runs before passing Rolton, Perry also brought up one kilorun in Test cricket. Congratulations, Pez!
Petulance
Grade: B+
But, of course, right behind her was Sutherland, who, on a hot Perth day, seemed utterly untroubled by the India attack. Despite her senior partner’s head start, she slowly but surely reeled Perry in, eventually surging past her in the seventies. (The score, not the decade.)
Perry’s response? To immediately be trapped leg before wicket by Deepti Sharma. Wonderfully petulant behaviour from the veteran. ‘Fine,’ she was saying to Sutherland. ‘If scoring more runs is that important to you, I’ll let you have it. Whatever.’ Followed by a majestic eye roll.
