Australia A’s red-ball showdown with India A is poised for a blockbuster finish following an action-packed second day of play on the Gold Coast.

Maddy Darke (54no) and Lilly Mills (3no) will resume on Saturday morning with the hosts 7-164 in their second innings, leading India A by 192 runs.

The pair had seen off a tricky period before stumps – and the spin of Minnu Mani (5-47), who on Friday added another five wickets to the five she took in Australia A’s first innings – to extend their advantage.

On an entertaining day that saw 15 wickets fall, it was South Australian quick Kate Peterson (5-16) who was the hero for Australia A on Friday morning, helping trigger a significant collapse as India A were bowled out for 184.

The tourists started the day on 2-100 in reply to Australia A’s 212, but lost 5-28 as Peterson removed Tejal Hasabnis (32), Shweta Sehrawat (40) and Sajana Sajeevan (0) in the space of eight deliveries.

The 21-year-old, who had taken a wicket the previous afternoon, completed her five-wicket haul when she had Uma Chetry caught on two, leaving India A reeling at 6-114, and a mix-up then made matters worse for the tourists, with Raghvi Bist run out to leave them 7-128.

Minnu Mani and Mannat Kashyap dug in, with their 43-run stand pushing India A closer to Australia A’s total, but after Nicola Hancock broke their stand, the final three wickets fell for 23 runs. 

“It was good to have our plans go away today,” Peterson said at stumps.

“We spoke a lot about bowling in partnerships and really using the swing, so to reap the rewards and keep us on the front foot in the game was pretty exciting.

“(The pitch) was pretty flat, but we were actually (getting) a bit of swing today, we didn’t have as much yesterday.

“Just to have the ball moving pretty much for the whole time we were out in the field was good for the bowlers.”

Australia A were immediately on the back foot when they returned to the middle, as Mani’s dominance over the Australians continued when she dismissed opener Georgia Voll and first drop Charli Knott without scoring, leaving the hosts 2-0.

India A sent down five maidens before the hosts scored their first run, but a patient Emma de Broughe (58) and Nicole Faltum hung in there.

De Broughe brought up a half-century, and weathered a wobble which saw Faltum (16) and Tess Flintoff dismissed in quick succession to leave Australia A 4-53.

She was joined by Darke, and the pair added 43 runs for the fifth wicket before de Broughe’s 117-ball stay at the crease was ended by spinner Priya Mishra.

Maitlan Brown chipped in 26 valuable runs, as Australia A edged their lead closer to 200 at stumps.

“(Emma) played a really good innings for us, she was just really confident from the get go,” Peterson said.

“She was really decisive with whatever shot she was playing and it was a pretty important and crucial innings for us in terms of the game.

“Mads (Darke) has been unreal, hopefully she can go on with it tomorrow.

“We’ll just look to put as many runs on the board as we can, any run here is valuable, and then we’ll just back our bowling unit to get the job done on a pretty tricky wicket.”

Women’s Australia A v India A Series

First T20: Australia won by five runs

Second T20: Australia won by eight wickets

Third T20: Australia won by seven wickets

Australia A squad: Maitlan Brown, Maddy Darke, Sophie Day, Nicole Faltum (wk), Tess Flintoff, Kim Garth, Nicola Hancock, Charli Knott (vc), Katie Mack, Tahlia McGrath (c), Grace Parsons, Kate Peterson, Tayla Vlaeminck, Tahlia Wilson

First ODI: Australia A won by four wickets

Second ODI: Australia A won by eight wickets

Third ODI: India A won by 171 runs

Australia A squad: Maitlan Brown, Maddy Darke, Sophie Day, Nicole Faltum (wk), Tess Flintoff, Kim Garth, Nicola Hancock, Charli Knott (vc), Katie Mack, Tahlia McGrath (c), Grace Parsons, Kate Peterson, Tayla Vlaeminck, Tahlia Wilson

Four-day match: August 22-25, Gold Coast District Cricket Club, 9.30am

Australia A squad: Maitlan Brown, Maddy Darke (wk), Sophie Day, Emma de Broughe, Nicole Faltum (vc), Tess Flintoff, Charli Knott (c), Katie Mack, Lilly Mills, Grace Parsons, Kate Peterson, Courtney Sippel, Georgia Voll

India A squad: Minnu Mani (c), Shweta Sehrawat (vc), Priya Punia, Shubha Satheesh, Tejal Hasabnis, Kiran Navgire, Sajana Sajeevan, Uma Chetry (wk), Shipra Giri (wk), Raghavi Bisht, Saika Ishaque, Mannat Kashyap, Tanuja Kanwar, Priya Mishra, Meghna Singh, Sayali Satghare, Shabnam Shakeel (subject to fitness), S Yashasri. Standby: Saima Thakor