Raj was in attacking mood and the longer she stayed at the crease the greater was the chance of what would be her side's second victory in 13 matches against Australia.

However, when on 36, hit the ball to mid-wicket where Lisa Sthalekar held the catch and India were 93 for four wickets.

Her departure lessened India's chances as the scoring rate was in excess of five an over.

A significant blow to India's hopes was struck when Chopra was out leg before wicket to Julie Hayes for 32 off 61 balls. She had added 47 runs in short time with Mithali Raj.

However, their departure was almost a signal of the end of Australia's worries as Sunetra Paranjpe struggled to get into scoring rhythm and her wild heave across the line saw her bowled for two when the score was 84.

Karen Rolton demonstrated her immense worth as an all-rounder to the Australians by bowling five overs and conceding only six runs while Hayes had bowled eight overs and taken three for 22.

Captain Anjum Chopra lifted her batting performance from that against New Zealand earlier in the tournament and was 28 not out after 15 overs.

India had lost Jaya Sharma in the 11th over when she edged a sharply rising ball from fast bowler Cathryn Fitzpatrick to gully where Michelle Goszko took the catch with India 31 for one wicket.

Mithali Raj came in and immediately swung into action in a fine display of attacking batting. A straight driven boundary by Chopra from Lisa Sthalekar set the trend and the pair raced through to 56 for one after 15 overs.

The 50 came up in the 14th over when Raj swung a ball through the leg-side for four runs.

When Fitzpatrick took Sharma's wicket she moved to 99 dismissals in One-Day Internationals, the most by any women's player.

At one stage Australia looked on target to score 240 or more but some tight bowling by Neetu David and Bindeshwari Goyal held the Australians in check.

Karen Rolton played a key role in holding the Australian innings together and was bowled by Jhulan Goswami for 68 off 82 balls. With the continual loss of wickets she had to play an anchor hand and shared a 74-run stand for the fifth wicket.

She was out in the 47th over pushing the scoring rate along and being done by one of several balls that stayed low at the southern end of the ground.

Alex Blackwell had a tough time spending 25 balls over her first run. The Indian spinners well and truly tied the Australians down.

Approaching the 40th over, Australia went through another long spell without scoring a boundary, and again it was broken by Rolton who powered the ball through a diving Indian fieldsman for it to run on to the boundary rope.

Bindeshwari Goyal, who had proven an utterly reliable support for David, finished with one for 28 from her 10 overs, with seven coming from her last over.

Blackwell finally scored her first boundary after 43 balls.

Rolton brought up her half century in the 41st over, off 65 balls while the 150 came up in the same over off 246 balls, while the 50 partnership was also achieved with the boundary to backward square leg off Jhulan Goswami that gave Rolton her 50. It took them 87 balls.

The partnership reached 74 runs before Blackwell attempted a quick run when taking on mid-off fieldsman Reema Malhotra, but a clean pick-up allowed Malhotra the time to run and take the bails off with Blackwell short of her ground. Her 27 came off 59 balls.

In the same over as Rolton was out, Julie Hayes was run out attempting a quick single and in the next over Lisa Sthalekar was run out in very similar circumstances for seven, and Australia were still short of the 200 mark at 199 for eight.

The 200 did come up in the same over off 289 balls.

At one stage in the last few overs, Australia lost five wickets for 15 runs.

David took two for 32 from her 10 overs while Goyal took one for 28.

At the 30-over mark Australia were 114 for four with Karen Rolton 30 and Alex Blackwell was still to score.

David bowling from the southern end of the ground sent down seven overs and two wickets for 14 runs, including the key wicket of Belinda Clark.

Holding the fort and with a great deal of responsibility was powerful left-hander Rolton. The requirement for her innings changed in front of her eyes and instead of mounting the attack, which is her natural game, she was required to anchor the innings to ensure the side batted through the full 50 overs.

Australia lost Melanie Jones when she was trapped leg before wicket to left-arm spinner Neetu David for 24 off 27 balls with the score on 73.

But any comfort India took from that was soon weighted against the sight of Karen Rolton walking to the wicket, and almost immediately opening her account with four off driven.

It wasn't long before she and Clark slipped into the groove of exerience they give the Australian game by hitting hard and running well between the wickets.

However, David continued to niggle away at the batsmen with some fine, controlled flight and when Clark had reached 35 she was trapped leg before wicket at which point Australia were 96 for three wickets.

Australia decided to bat first after winning the toss and while they lost Melissa Bulow for nine runs in the sixth over when she was bowled by Rumeli Dhar, captain Belinda Clark and Melanie Jones were quickly rebuilding the situation.

The wicket fell when the score was 14 in the sixth over but 54 balls later the pair had added 50 runs. After 15 overs Australia were 71 for one wicket with Clark on 30 and Jones on 24.

Bulow, who was making her international debut took much of the early strike, but once Clark got warmed up her class was again obvious. Immaculate timing typifies her batting and when she advanced down the wicket to Dhar to play an effortless off drive to the boundary she was on the way.

She was expecially severe on his Indian captaincy opposite Anjum Chopra's first over, as 13 runs came from it. The first four was pulled to square leg, the second was lofted to mid-wicket and the third, was beautifully square driven.

Jones wasn't backward in coming forward either. She played a delicate late cut which raced to the boundary from Chopra's bowling and then followed that up with a fine square drive from Dhar's bowling.

Jhulan Goswami bowled tidily during her first five overs and had none for 13 while Dahr's seven overs resulted in one wicket for 32 runs.

Chopra, however, went for 20 off her two overs forcing a change to off spinner Nooshin-Al Khardir.

They need another win to get themselves into a position to challenge New Zealand for the likely berth, but against the formidable Australian side who are favourites to win they would need to achieve a monumental upset.

Today's is the last match of the first round in the two round tournament.

Australia have compounded that by winning the toss and deciding to bat first on Lincoln 3 where perfect conditions prevail yet again.

A cooling breeze should take the edge off the extreme heat being predicted.

The teams are:

India: Anjum Chopra (captain), Mithali Raj, Jaya Sharma, Sunetra Paranjpe, Neetu David, Rumeli Dhar, Reema Maholtra, Nooshin-Al-Khadir, Bindeshwari Goyal, Jhulan Goswami, Babita Mandilka. (12th man - Mamta Kanojia).

Australia: Belinda Clark (captain), Melissa Bulow, Melanie Jones, Karen Rolton, Michelle Goszko, Alex Blackwell, Lisa Sthalekar, Julie Hayes, Cathryn Fitzpatrick, Julia Price, Emma Twinning. (12th man - Kris Britt).

The umpires are: Gary Baxter and Robert Anderson.