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AAP
AAP
Ian Chadband

Sutherland shines with ball in Aussie World Cup defence

Annabel Sutherland is in the argument for being the best allround woman cricketer in the game, but at this World Cup it's with the ball that the brilliant Australian has really been doing her talking.

As the champions prepared to continue their unbeaten defence of their title against Bangladesh in Visakhapatnam on Thursday, Sutherland stood atop the tournament's wicket-taking lists with 10 scalps.

Half came in the match of the tournament against hosts India on Sunday when Sutherland celebrated her 24th birthday with her first international five-for.

Sutherland
Annabel Sutherland has taken more wickets than any other bowler at the 2025 World Cup. (Steven Markham/AAP PHOTOS)

It was a bravura performance, enabling Australia to get out of a real hole as she sparked the late collapse that kept rampant India's total down to 330 and earned the champs the chance to pull off their world record chase.

Sutherland's 5-40 featured a bit of everything - sheer pace, hostile short balls, off-cutters, cross-seam and such slow back-of-the-hand fare that even the spinners were quicker - so no-one could settle against her. 

And she evidently enjoyed every minute.

"It's been a part of my game and for the last few years a 'go-to', particularly with the amount of T20 cricket I've played," Sutherland mused on the eve of the match when quizzed on the bewildering variety of her 'change-ups'. 

"I think that's particularly when conditions are in the batter's favour, so it's nice that it's coming out pretty well.

"I'm feeling pretty good. I feel like I've got really good rhythm, coming in after the powerplay and making a bit of an impact."

Her 10 wickets have come at an average of 8.10 and she's given up less than three runs an over as the pick of Australia's bowlers so far.

Still, Sutherland herself believes it's the overall strength-in-depth of Australia's attack which remains key.

"That's the beauty of our bowling line-up. We've got all bases covered and it's been really cool to see Kimmy (Kim Garth) do her thing up top and then even T-Mac (Tahlia McGrath) impacting through the middle and Shooter (Megan Schutt) as well," she shrugged. 

"So we feel like we're building. Still haven't quite had that perfect bowling performance, but we're happy with how we're going."

For Sutherland, though, it's been a different story with the bat. Having begun 2025 by becoming the first Australian to score a women's Test hundred at the MCG with her epic 163 against England, she's subsequently endured surprisingly lean pickings in white-ball internationals.

Apart from her 45 and 54no in the preparation series in India last month, she's only scored 85 runs in 11 other ODI and T20I knocks this year, including a woeful start to this World Cup with just six runs in three innings.

Australia could do with their richly gifted strokemaker finding her touch again against Bangladesh, who've proved no pushovers, giving both England and South Africa a scare in defeat.     

"We've prepped really well. We had a really good series against them a little bit over a year ago which gave us some really good insight," said Sutherland, who recognises the danger from teenage allrounder Shorna Akter, who scored Bangladesh's fastest ever ODI 50 against South Africa.

"They've done a little bit of damage throughout this tournament, so we've had a really thorough look at their team ... we don't take anyone lightly."

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