Aussies hang on as Flintoff's new ball burst swings 'A' clash

A double-wicket over by Victorian Tess Flintoff has turned a see-sawing four-day clash against India A and helped put Australia A on course for a 45-run victory on the Gold Coast.

Australia A skipper Charli Knott's bold call to keep the allrounder in the attack after conceding 13 runs in her previous over was vindicated when Flintoff responded with two key breakthroughs to drastically change the momentum of the final day.

The right-armer removed Uma Chetry (47) with a short ball, breaking a free-flowing 79-run seventh-wicket partnership between the Indian wicketkeeper and Raghvi Bist that had taken the visitors from an outside chance of victory at the start of the fourth day to perhaps in the box seat.

Flintoff (3-39) lured Chetry into a pull shot from the second ball of her 14th over of the innings that the India A No.8 lobbed to Emma de Broughe at midwicket, before she delivered a telling blow three deliveries later when she bowled Bist for 26.

The Aussies started the day in a strong position after late breakthroughs by Knott (3-34) and Grace Parsons (2-37) the previous evening removed dangerous India A captain Minnu Mani and Shubha Satheesh (45) to leave the hosts requiring a further four wickets on the final morning.

But Chetry resumed on Sunday with a flurry of boundaries, and with Bist at the other end proving the rock to her counterattack, they reduced the runs required from 140 at the start of the day to 80 within the first hour.

Knott cycled through herself and fellow spinners Parsons and Lilly Mills, along with fast bowler Kate Peterson searching for the elusive breakthrough before Flintoff was thrown the new ball at the beginning of the 81st over.

It was a rocky return for the 21-year-old as Chetry began with two boundaries through backward point against the new Kookaburra to help take 13 runs from over.

The wicketkeeper-batter came undone looking to continue her attack in Flintoff's following over however, as new ball partner Maitlan Brown (1-29) also struck, India A losing 3-9 to see their chances of a miracle win slip away.

Queensland off-spinner Knott finished the job when Sayali Satghare (21) offered a simple return catch, Australia A hanging on to complete an enthralling 45-run victory just before lunch.

"It was definitely an exciting match," Knott said. "Day one we felt a little bit nervous after not putting in a great performance with the bat (to be bowled out for 212).

"But the bowling group has managed to do an awesome job and the second innings with the bat, our lower order really fought to get us to a defendable total which we needed in the end there.

"We knew once we got one wicket it would bring the rest, so we just had to stick in there. They were going pretty aggressive so we knew something would come."

The result sees Australia to a 6-1 victory in the multi-format 'A' series after sweeping the three T20s and winning two of the three 50-over matches.

Opener Georgia Voll (71) and Kate Peterson (5-16) were Australia's standout performers in the first innings, with Maddy Darke keeping the hosts in the contest on day three with an unbeaten second-innings 105.

India captain Mani meanwhile was exceptional across both innings, finishing with match figures of 11-150 from 52 overs.

It was a rare red-ball outing for many of Australia's top female domestic players, the series providing a perfect lead-in to a busy season and valuable insights ahead of this summer’s women’s Ashes Test at the MCG, with national selector Shawn Flegler on deck at Gold Coast District Cricket Club across the four days.

"We obviously don't play a lot of this format so just learning from innings to innings about tactics has been a great experience," Knott said.

"It's been (a great) learning experience for us and very beneficial for our development."

India's senior women's side will return to Australia in early December following Weber WBBL|10 to take on Alyssa Healy's team in three ODIs in Brisbane and Perth.