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Follow UsMarch 5, 2023, Navi Mumbai
19 off 6, Annabel Sutherland was tasked with defending a total for Gujarat Giants. It could have given them a great start. Who better than a seasoned T20 all-rounder, Sutherland, to do the job?
What happened next was the defining piece of the inaugural season of the Women’s Premier League.
Not only did Sutherland concede 24 runs in the final over, she was left dejected and saw the remainder of the season on the bench. It was almost like a season-ending performance for the all-rounder.
But a year later, on December 9 (Saturday), the Delhi Capitals spent nearly 80% of their purse on the Australian all-rounder. Guess the other franchise that bid hard for Sutherland? Mumbai Indians Women.
So, the big question – what makes Sutherland special?
Sutherland’s association with cricket started when she was a youngster. Her dad, James Sutherland, spent much time as the CEO of Cricket Australia (CA), introducing the sport to the family for the longest time.
Annabel isn’t the only sibling who took up the sport, with her elder brother Will Sutherland playing cricket at the highest level. At the tender age of five, Annabel drew much inspiration from one of the all-time greats in women’s cricket - Ellyse Perry - and it is no surprise that the all-rounder heavily influences her game.
“Ellyse Perry, for one, has been awesome for me in how she goes about her cricket and prepares as well. “I’ve taken a lot from the way she goes about things,” Sutherland spoke after her partnership with Perry earlier in the season.
It was in that clash that the 22-year-old further strengthened her case with the bat when she scored an unbeaten 137 against a strong English bowling unit at a strike rate of 74.45. It was in that knock where the resemblance with Perry was quite close, and their batting style almost mirrored each other.
Not just that, the all-rounder returned in the same clash later to pick up Emma Lamb's wicket.
Sutherland is just a youngster on paper, perhaps one of the seasoned veterans in the game's shortest format. Not only does she have over 100 T20 wickets, Sutherland also has nearly 1500 runs with the bat, making her a true all-rounder.
What makes her special with the bat is her ability to bat anywhere in the batting order. Not only is she an able batter at the top of the order, but she also possesses the uncanny ability in women’s cricket to strike from ball one, something that she showed in the clash against England, where she scored 22 off 11 early on her debut to send the game to overtime, and announcing herself on the international stage.
With her batting, the resemblance with Perry is more pronounced, with her upright stance, strokeplay and concentration that could drive the bowlers crazy. While she has shown all that at the Test level, at 22, she is just starting at the biggest stage - international cricket.
Her numbers at the T20I level are quite underwhelming - 97 runs @12.12 and a strike rate of 144.77. But she is more than a capable batter, with 899 runs in the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) with three half-centuries under her belt.
With the ball, Sutherland has also picked up 59 wickets, averaging 25.5, and has shown her potential occasionally. Like her brother, the all-rounder played Australian Rules football, where much of her stamina and endurance came from, when she made her cricket debut at the age of 15.
She has seen the transition of women’s cricket from amateur to a highly paid profession, and the INR 2 crore bid from Delhi Capitals is just a starting point for her calibre.
With Meg Lanning leading the side, expect to see the best of Annabel Sutherland in the upcoming edition of the WPL.
