Sutherland uses misdirection to get Australia crucial win as she delivers five game-changing wickets in thriller.
Sutherland and her sleight of hand conjures priceless Australia win.
Whether it’s in your dining room, your closet, your wish list of books and films, or anything else, a little bit of variety is greatly appreciated in life. It’s difficult to equal the diversity of the Australian team on the cricket pitch, especially in this Women’s World Cup, and even the range of deception that their all-rounder Annabel Sutherland can employ to trick opposing batters, mostly with her fingers and wrist.
With three distinct periods, Sutherland’s outstanding bowling performance against India on Sunday demonstrated its complete range, one of the few advantages of the 50-over format.
At first, it appeared like she would concentrate on containment, but on what was likely the flattest pitch of this World Cup, she ultimately caused a collapse of 6 for 36.
On her 24th birthday, Sutherland made an excellent impression in front of a packed Visakhapatnam stadium that had not purchased tickets to watch Australia defeat the hosts or to witness some pace changes help defeat India’s top hitters on a pitch designed for runs.
Captain Alyssa Healy made further bowling changes since the runs were coming in and there were no wickets in sight. This resulted in the dismissal of Smriti Mandhana, but India was comfortably positioned at 192 for 1 after 30 overs. Let’s go on to Sutherland. The pitch was still hard, the ball was old, the sell-out audience was beginning to get value for their money, and the innings was about to end in a grandiose fashion.
At 111.3 kph, Sutherland hammered the ball into the field, forcing Rawal to make a draw that would not have cleared Ellyse Perry in the deep. Sutherland began playing with the new batters after the two set openers were eliminated, and her entire skill set began to emerge: the offcutter, the cross-seamed delivery, the slower ball from the back of the hand, and the slower bouncer.
She was familiar enough with the pitch by this stage to know which delivery to bowl at what length, to which hitter, and at what point. Alana King had begun to find some drift, turn, and bounce to stop the batters from getting away with it at one end while Sutherland was doing her thing from the other.
When 42 overs were completed and India was on their way to a huge total thanks to Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh, who were riding high on their quick fifty-ball partnership, Sutherland was eventually given the ball once more. However, as Healy had stated prior to this match, Australia had a good notion of what to do and when at this stadium after seeing South Africa defeat India. Pace-on would not have worked in this scenario, as Healy and Sutherland would have understood.
The speed then sped off. In the 45th over, Sutherland found long-on after digging a slower ball into the pitch with the back of his hand that Ghosh didn’t get much distance on. In her next over, Sutherland bowled so slow – easily slower than some of the quicker spinners – at just 87.5kph, and Rodrigues mistimed it utterly, straight down the ground. Soon after, Kranti Gaud met a similar end.
Sutherland was practically showing off to defeat Shree Charani, India’s No. 11. She gave Sutherland her first ODI five-for by using the scrambling seam from around the wicket at 106.4 kph, which the tailender could barely edge onto her stumps.
In Visakhapatnam, more than 660 runs were ultimately scored; runs were difficult to stop in most stages, and boundaries came thick and fast. However, one bowler threw down 36 dots and finished with an economy rate of 4.06. What about variety?