With her match-winning 81-ball unbeaten 105 against New Zealand in Wellington on Saturday, Sutherland became the first woman in ODI history to make back-to-back centuries batting at No 5 or lower in the order. (X/Australia Women’s Cricket Team)
Making the most of being asked to bat at No 5 for the mighty Australian batting line up, Annabel Sutherland continued her stunning form as she registered back-to-back ODI centuries. With her match-winning 81-ball unbeaten 105 against New Zealand in Wellington on Saturday, Sutherland became the first woman in ODI history to make back-to-back centuries batting at No 5 or lower in the order.
In her previous ODI in Perth, the third of the series against India recently, she had smashed a superb 110, rescuing Australia from a tricky position after Arundhati Reddy’s superb spell of pace bowling resulted in four quick wickets. It wasn’t too dissimilar against New Zealand on Saturday either, as she came into bat at 107/3 after Ellyse Perry’s dismissal and soon saw Beth Mooney depart as well at 110/4. Sutherland brought up her century of just 78 balls at the start of the 50th over of Australia’s innings, with the second fifty runs taking just 23 deliveries for the star allrounder.
According to cricket.com.au, the 23-year-old also became the second youngest Australian to score three ODI centuries behind former captain Meg Lanning. “It was actually tricky, I couldn’t quite get my timing … I was just trying to work with my partner up the other end,” Sutherland said after her innings.
Annabel Sutherland with another career best ODI score 🤩 🏏 #Cricket #NZvAUS #AnnabelSutherland #Foxtel pic.twitter.com/pH1y5NJxFg
— Foxtel (@Foxtel) December 21, 2024
“Had a few 50-run partnerships which was nice and it was good to get a decent total on a tricky batting wicket.”
Australia head coach Shelley Nitschke had said during the India-Australia ODI series that the team wanted to make better use of Sutherland’s batting ability and promoting her to No 5 was done with a long-term view. And it has already started paying dividends for the defending World champions, less than a year out from the ODI World Cup in India. Sutherland’s form also augurs well for Delhi Capitals, who paid big bucks for her in last year’s auction.
I’m pretty competitive so anytime I get an opportunity to bat, it doesn’t come too often, and just loving the opportunity to bat a little higher at no.5 and trying to make the most of it, to spend time in the middle and cash in towards the end,” Sutherland, who has a Test double century to her name as well, said.
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