Ashes: Rising star Annabel Sutherland is the future of Australian women’s cricket

A rising Aussie star bowled her heart out for Australia in last weekend’s thrilling draw and wants to do the same more and more.

Annabel Sutherland wants to play more Test cricket. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

Annabel Sutherland is one rising star who looms as the future of women’s cricket and that future should include more Test matches.

The 20-year-old all-rounder bowled her heart out in last Sunday’s thrilling draw with England in Canberra, nearly bowling Australia to a surprise victory, a performance that earnt all manner of praise.

Australian captain Meg Lanning said Sutherland, playing just her second Test match after her first late last year against India, was “amazing” as she was preferred above veteran superstar Ellyse Perry to bowl in tandem with first-gamer Alana King to try to seize victory.

With Perry, who didn’t bowl in the thrilling final hour of play last Sunday, offering calming advice from mid-off, Sutherland seized three late wickets, all after going for two sixes in her first over, in a six-over spell during which Lanning never wavered from giving her the ball.

“I have always wanted to take an opportunity when it’s thrown at me and the nature of this Australian team is it doesn’t happen that often because of the depth we have got,” Sutherland said, reflecting on that final day.

“Just being able to take that role, take the ball when Meg threw it at me, I feel like I have been ready to do that for the last year or so and I’ll certainly take a lot of confidence from the role I was able to play.

“My first over at the end wasn’t great. I got hit for two sixes. I was a bit surprised to get thrown the ball again after that over but was just happy to play my role.

Alyssa Healy, Annabel Sutherland and Meg Lanning celebrate an English wicket in Canberra. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

“We’d fought so hard to get back into the game and it was really cool to have Pez (Perry) next to me and she was really good in keeping me calm.

“I was pretty pumped. I had a fair bit of adrenaline. It was so much fun, there was no place I’d rather be.”

Sutherland said she “always dreamt” of being in a position to win a Test match for Australia, a dream she had every time she headed to the MCG with her father James, the former Cricket Australia chief executive, for a match.

Annabel Sutherland is the future of Australian cricket. Picture: Mark Evans/Getty Images

While the current calendar has no more Test matches scheduled for Australia for the immediate future, Sutherland said there was little doubt it was a format the players craved and last weekend’s epic finish should set the wheels in motion to make that happen.

“It should. When you get a Test match where in that last session on day four you could have any result happen, it’s pretty exciting,” she said.

“I dreamt of it. I’ve worked pretty hard to try and go after that. It’s pretty cool to be in that position.

“Just from a playing perspective, the more we play, the more we get used to that. We just love being able to put on the baggy green.”

Sutherland and the Australians will now reset their focus for the first of three ODIs against England on Thursday that will decide the multi-format series and who wins the Ashes.

Originally published as Ashes: Rising star Annabel Sutherland is the future of Australian women’s cricket