The Australia allrounder talks about grabbing opportunity when it comes her way
Andrew McGlashan18-Sep-2024Annabel Sutherland has long been marked out as a key part of Australia’s future. It now feels that her time has come.Last year in South Africa she played one match at the T20 World Cup; it would be a significant surprise if her role was as limited this time in the UAE.Sutherland, who will be in action this week against New Zealand during Australia’s final preparation for the World Cup, enters the tournament on the back of a Player-of-the-Tournament display in the Hundred for Northern Superchargers, where she scored 212 runs at a strike rate of 137.66 and claimed ten wickets with a remarkable economy of 4.53. That output came after a maiden Test hundred in last year’s Ashes and a stunning double-century against South Africa in Perth in February.Related
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While those Test hundreds may not be immediately relevant to a T20 campaign, they put on show Sutherland’s class with the bat, which hasn’t often been given a chance to flourish in an Australia batting order so full of world-class players that opportunity, even when you’re in the XI, can be hard to come by.In T20Is, Sutherland’s highest score remains the 22 off 11 balls she made on debut as an 18-year-old against England in 2020, which helped earn Australia a Super Over in a tri-series held ahead of that year’s T20 World Cup. In 31 T20Is, she has only batted 12 times, and it was not until January 2023 that she bowled a full four overs; in ODIs she has got to the crease in just over half her matches, although last year took the chance provided by opening, with a maiden hundred against Ireland.”[There’s] elements of frustration, definitely, but I think that’s a good thing at the same time,” Sutherland says. “If you are a youngster coming through and you aren’t frustrated or wanting to get a crack up the order or bowl more, then you are doing something wrong.Make mine a double: Sutherland followed up her first hundred, in her third Test, with 210 in her fifth, against South Africa in Perth•Getty Images and Cricket Australia”I’ve definitely felt that at times, probably pestered [head coach] Shelly [Nitschke] a little bit too much about what opportunities I can get. But you look at that top order and, who do you come in for? It’s pretty stacked. There are stars all through the line-up and someone performs more often than not, which is the strength of our team – the depth we’ve got, right down to ten and sometimes 11.”It’s part of it as a young player coming through and you can build a fair bit of resilience. I’ve run drinks for a fair share of games and understand it’s a little bit about earning your stripes. It’s important to take an opportunity when it comes, too. You can easily build up the expectation on yourself, and sometimes you’ve just got to let it play out and believe you’ve done the work.”At last year’s WPL auction, Sutherland fetched the joint-highest price of A$364,000 (Rs 2 crore) when the hammer came down in favour of Delhi Capitals. But she would only play four matches in the competition.”It can be a different world at times over there,” she says. “To be honest, I didn’t think too much about the price you go for. You try to keep that out of your mind, it’s just another cricket game. Probably didn’t get the opportunities I was hoping for but trying to fit four internationals into a side when you have six sitting there – any one of us could have played a role.”
However, as an overseas star in the Hundred, Sutherland was at the centre of the action and the results were impressive. She never failed to reach double figures and bowled with both wicket-taking threat and economy. “I had a really good pre-season,” she said. “Think when you get those windows [that] we don’t often have, it’s important to take them, and I certainly enjoyed that period of time, finding different ways to work on my game.”Her recent bowling returns are especially notable. She is used an increasing amount at the death, and since October 2023 has an economy in the 17-20-over period of just 6.86 – the third lowest among all bowlers who have delivered at least 100 balls in that phase. It won’t always go right, but it’s a role she relishes. At North Sydney Oval last year Sutherland was almost able to stop a rampaging Hayley Matthews when she conceded just three runs off the 18th over.”I’m wanting to put my hand up for any situation,” she says. “I’ve been really grateful for the opportunities I’ve had in the Australian team in the last six to 12 months in ODI and T20, moments that Midge [Alyssa Healy] has thrown me the ball and asked me to do a job. I’ve learnt a lot in those situations.”T20 cricket, especially, is a game of experience – the more times you get put in those situations and feel comfortable under the pump, or a batter is coming for you, you know your options. You have to have the toolbox in the first place but to call on the right options, then execute, it’s the fun part of cricket as a bowler. It can go both ways pretty quickly but I feel like I’ve been able to be relatively consistent in those moments.Team-mate Ash Gardner picks Sutherland as a future leader of Australia. “She’s a player well beyond her years,” Gardner says•Getty Images”A strength of mine is to try and look at things objectively and take the learnings from it,” she says.”Whether I do well or not so well, it’s: what did you learn from it, and what can you take to the next game? That was the cool thing about the Hundred. It was a great opportunity to play some short-format cricket, obviously a T20 World Cup in sight, and taking bits and pieces of learning from it, get comfortable in different situations.”The growth in Sutherland’s bowling is an aspect that has stood out to her team-mates. “We always knew she was going to be good, and her batting has come on leaps and bounds, but I actually think in the T20 format her bowling is what’s been the most impressive,” Ash Gardner says. “She’s one of those bowlers who can be thrown the ball at any point in the game. The credit she deserves is how hard she’s worked and the options she has at the death.”There’s not many female bowlers who can bowl a slower-ball bouncer. She has a very good back-of-the-hand ball, so things like that, she has a lot of balls she can use throughout those moments and has the cricket brain as well to know when to use them.”She’s a player well beyond her years and will be a leader of the future in this side and any other team she plays for. That just feeds back into how calm she is out on the field, and ultimately that’s what’s probably her biggest thing is – she doesn’t crack under pressure.””The thing I love about being a cricketer is, you’ve always got places to improve in your game and I enjoy that process”•Mike Owen/Getty ImagesThe ability to bat big and long has been evident in Sutherland’s two Test centuries. “Feel like it’s been a strength of mine to bat for longer periods,” she says. “Growing up I’d open the batting in boys’ cricket. A strength was that I could bat through. I enjoy batting for long periods, dealing with the ups and downs of an innings, finding ways to keep working through those little ruts you have.”But while for Northern Superchargers she was at No. 4, and she has played the majority of her innings for Melbourne Stars at four or higher, in Australia’s T20I side she will likely remain at No. 7 or 8, which requires a very different skill set.”Whatever role I might play, I’ve definitely worked pretty hard on my boundary-hitting and accessing different areas of the ground, knowing what potential plans teams may throw at me and being able to adapt,” she said. “It’s something I’ve been looking to improve on and worked really hard through the off season [on], lots of time in the nets working on my power-hitting.”You can’t rest on your laurels because the way the game is moving and changing all the time, the depth is growing around the world. The thing I love about being a cricketer is, you’ve always got places to improve in your game and I enjoy that process.”
