Only Test – India v South Africa
MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai, 29 June
Day 2 – South Africa 236/4 (72.0) trail India 603/6d (115.1) by 367 runs
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603 – India’s total was the highest made in a women’s Test match, breaking a record that had been set against the same opposition just four months ago:
- 603/6d India v South Africa at Chennai, 2024
- 575/9d Australia v South Africa at Perth, 2024
- 569/6d Australia v England at Guildford, 1998
- 525 Australia v India at Ahmedabad, 1984
- 517/8 New Zealand v England at Scarborough, 1996
Overall, India were the first side ever to record a total over 600 runs in a women’s First Class match:
- 603/6d India v South Africa at Chennai, 2024
- 596 Australia v England A at Sittingbourne, 1998
- 575/9d Australia v South Africa at Perth, 2024
- 569/6d Australia v England at Guildford, 1998
- 563/6d Australia v Otago, Dunedin, 1948
5.23 – India’s run-rate was the highest achieved in a women’s Test innings of 20+ overs. Four of the five highest entries on the list have occurred since the start of 2022.
- 5.23 India 603/9d v South Africa, 2024
- 5.10 England 245/9 v Australia, 2022
- 4.96 Australia 139/6 v India, 1984
- 4.76 England 131 v India, 2023
- 4.58 Australia 575/9d v South Africa, 2024
86 – Richa Ghosh made the second half-century of her Test career. Ghosh’s innings was the second highest Test score by an Indian women’s wicket-keeper, and the highest score made by any Indian woman batting at #6 or lower in Test cricket.
54 – Bringing up her half-century off 54 balls, this was the seventh fastest recorded fifty scored in a women’s Test match:
- 40 Sangita Dabir (IND) v ENG, 1995
- 40 Vanessa Bowen (SL) v PAK, 1998
- 48 Nat Sciver-Brunt (ENG) v AUS, 2022
- 49 Shubha Satheesh (IND) v ENG, 2023
- 51 Smriti Mandhana (IND) v AUS, 2021
- 52 Tahlia McGrath (AUS) v IND, 2023
- 54 Richa Ghosh (IND) v SA, 2024
69 – Harmanpreet Kaur’s innings was her first Test fifty, and the fourth highest score made by an Indian women’s Test captain on home soil:
- 78 Shantha Rangaswamy v WI at Delhi, 1976
- 78 Mithali Raj v ENG at Delhi, 2005
- 74 Shantha Rangaswamy v WI at Bengaluru, 1976
- 69 Harmanpreet Kaur v SA at Chennai, 2024
5 – Added to the efforts of Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues the day before, this was the third time that five women have made 50+ scores in the same Test innings:
- India 1st innings v South Africa at Paarl, 2002 (5×50)
- Australia 1st innings v England at Taunton, 2019 (1×100, 4×50)
- India 1st innings v South Africa at Chennai, 2024 (2×100, 3×50)
143 – Richa Ghosh and Harmanpreet Kaur’s partnership was the highest 5th wicket stand in women’s Test cricket:
- 143 H Kaur & RM Ghosh (IND) v SA at Chennai, 2024
- 138 J Logtenberg & C van der Westhuizen (SA) v ENG at Shenley, 2003
- 136 LC Sthalekar & AJ Blackwell (AUS) v ENG at Bankstown, 2003
India’s previous best for the 5th wicket was Hemlata Kala and Mamatha Maben’s 133 against England at Lucknow in 2002.
236 – South Africa’s total so far represents the second most runs they have scored before the fall of the 5th wicket in a Test innings.
6 – Anneke Bosch became the first South African woman to hit a six in Test cricket, and later in the day, was joined in the club by Suné Luus. With two days to go, the overall tally of sixes hit in this game (11) is already nearly twice the previous record for a women’s Test match (6).
Fifteen different women have now hit at least one six in Test cricket since 2020. The most different players hitting a six in any past decade was seven during the 1990s.
65 – Suné Luus went on to bring up her first Test half-century. Luus is now one of two South African women to have made at least one 50+ score against India in all three international formats. The other is Mignon du Preez.
112* – Marizanne Kapp’s innings (69*) was the second 50+ score of her Test career. Having finished not out in her previous innings (43* v England at Taunton in 2022), Kapp has now scored 112 runs and faced 183 balls since her last dismissal in the format.
7 – This is the first time that a women’s Test match played in India has featured seven individual scores of fifty or more.
93 & 63 – Luus’ partnerships with Kapp and Bosch were respectively the second and fifth highest stands South Africa have made against India in a women’s Test:
- 102 Du Preez & Chetty at Mysore, 2014
- 93 Luus & Kapp at Chennai, 2024
- 73 Hodgkinson & Viljoen at Paarl, 2002
- 69 Reid & Viljoen at Paarl, 2002
- 63 Luus & Bosch at Chennai, 2024
This was the second time in their Test history that the Proteas women have made 50+ run partnerships for two of the first three wickets in the same innings, The other was against New Zealand at Johannesburg during the controversial 1972 series.
3 – Sneh Rana (20-2-61-3) has taken at least three wickets in four of the six innings she bowled in her Test career. Rana is currently the third highest wicket taker (12 at an average of 18.66) in women’s Test cricket since the start of last year.
In the five women’s Test matches played since the start of 2023, spin bowlers have taken 78 wickets at an average of 28.28 compared with 63 at 39.60 for pace bowlers. There has been a particularly marked contrast in fortunes in the three matches played in India during that period, in which spin (49) has returned more than twice as many wickets as pace (23), and averaged twenty fewer runs per dismissal.
| Bowling type | Pace | Spin |
| Wickets | 63 | 78 |
| Average | 39.60 | 28.28 |
| Economy | 3.82 rpo | 3.14 rpo |
| Strike rate | 62.0 | 53.9 |
| Wickets in India | 23 | 49 |
| Average in India | 49.08 | 28.95 |
| Economy in India | 4.12 rpo | 3.14 rpo |
| Strike rate in India | 71.3 | 55.3 |
Stats derived from ESPNcricinfo statsguru, Cricket Archive and womenscrickethistory.org.
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