Annabel Sutherland says Aussie women deserve more games on the MCG

After being crowned the best player in the country days after making history at the MCG, Annabel Sutherland says her all-conquering Australian team deserves more respect.

Newly minted Belinda Clark Award winner Annabel Sutherland used her morning after platform to launch a plea for more women’s games at the “big stadiums”, declaring the record crowd at the MCG Test was proof the all-conquering Australians “deserved” it.

Sutherland, who blasted the first women’s century in the Ashes Test Australia won inside three days last weekend, netted the top award on the back of a blistering 12 months of runs that also included a Test double century.

The 23-year-old said the “success over a long period of time” for the women’s team, which won the multi-format Ashes 16-0 over England, the first such result in more than a decade of series, cemented their standing as worthy of the best stages to perform.

“Hopefully, the game at the MCG potentially sparks a bit of change and hopefully we can launch off what was a really great event,” Sutherland said on Tuesday morning.

Alyssa Healy and the Australians romped to an Ashes win at the MCG. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

It only took two days of Melbourne crowds to break the world record attendance for a women’s Test match, with 23,561 attending.

Another 11,804 were at the MCG, where the world record for the largest women’s cricket attendance was smashed when more than 86,000 attended the T20 World Cup final in 2020, on the final day to see Australia’s romp to victory.

But the match was Australia’s first at the venue since that World Cup final. They haven’t played an ODI on the MCG since 2014.

The win earnt the Australians, from some pundits, the title of Australia’s best sporting team ever, a tag making them even more deserving of more MCG and SCG games.

“I don’t know what it could look like. The Test at the WACA was a pretty good spectacle too,” Sutherland said.

“Just the opportunity to play at the big grounds. We are playing some really good cricket and the support from Australian fans shows people want to see it. We deserved to be on the big stadiums around the country.”

Annabel Sutherland says Australia should play more games at the big stadiums. Picture: Graham Denholm/Getty Images for Cricket Australia

As for the best-ever title, Sutherland said it wasn’t something talked about by the players.

“Success over a long period of time is a bit of a sign of that,” she said.

“But teams comes come at you all the time, and it wasn’t long ago we got knocked off in a semi-final of the (T20) World Cup. You have to stay on tour toes.

“The beauty of the group is we don’t get caught up in that. We keep moving on to what’s next, what we are trying to do, to be as good as we can individually and contribute to the team where possible.”

A piece of history for Annabel Sutherland!

She becomes the first woman to make a Test match century at the MCG 💯 pic.twitter.com/dJxWuJN3nb

— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) January 31, 2025

Sutherland, who already has more international centuries than superstar all-rounder Ellyse Perry and is one of the youngest to win the Belinda Clark Award behind former captain Meg Lanning, who won it consecutively aged 21 and 22 in 2014 and 2015, is also keen to get better.

In fact, it’s her sole focus, after taking a “few days” to reflect on her individual and the team’s accomplishments before the next task.

“I am always trying to find ways to improve,” she said.

“You are never the finished product, especially as an all-rounder. I have improvement for sure and I can’t wait to keep working on it.”