When Annabel Sutherland deployed what is quickly becoming her trademark slower ball to dismiss England opener Tammy Beaumont on Wednesday evening, she reclaimed the outright lead on the World Cup wickets table.
Despite her dominance with the ball, however, the Australian allrounder had only been firing on one cylinder through her first five matches of the tournament.
Ninety-eight unbeaten runs later, the scary reality for Australia’s rivals ahead of the business end of the World Cup is that Sutherland now appears to have hit her stride in both facets of her game.
“She is such a gun and I think it’s scary how young she still is,” Australia’s stand-in skipper Tahlia McGrath said after Australia sealed a six-wicket win.
“She’s one of our hardest trainers, her planning is meticulous and whenever we’re in trouble, you just turn to Bels – she’s that good.”
Sutherland, in tandem with Alana King, has been Australia’s rock with ball in hand through the middle overs, with a knack of getting a wicket right when her team needs it.
So she proved again against England in Indore, delivering a wicket-maiden after England had raced to 0-55 from the first eight overs, before later using her variations with perfection to dismiss the in-form Beaumont and Emma Lamb.
The 24-year-old now has 15 wickets from five games at an average of 12.13 and economy rate of 3.84.
While Sutherland has been bankable with the ball, the Victorian had been left frustrated by her returns with the bat.
Her first three innings of the World Cup saw her dismissed for 5, 1 and 0, a frustrating backwards trajectory given she had struck 54no and 45 during the preceding bilateral series against India before missing the final one-dayer with back spasms.
“I’ve been feeling really good (in the nets) to be honest, and it was nice just to spend some time in the middle,” Sutherland reflected.
“(I gave) myself a chance early and then (I could) basically watch Ash make it look really easy and get a really nice partnership with her.
“I think that was probably the pleasing thing, that we were able to get the job done together.”
Her innings on Wednesday came under pressure, as she walked to the middle with Australia 3-24 in the sixth over chasing 245, with England smelling blood following the cheap dismissals of the top three batters.
Sutherland weathered the storm and ultimately walked from the field in the 41st over, unbeaten on 98 having shared an unbroken 180-run fifth-wicket partnership with Ashleigh Gardner to seal that was, in the end, another dominant win.
Highest score batting at #5 or lower in a women’s ODI run chase:
114 Marizanne Kapp (SA) v IND, 2024
104* Ash Gardner (AUS) v ENG, today
98* Annabel Sutherland (AUS) v ENG, today#CWC25 https://t.co/T0QeKd1EfN— hypocaust (@_hypocaust) October 22, 2025
“Belsy and I have had quite a few partnerships, I just feel like we bounce a lot of ideas off each other,” Gardner said following the game.
“Belsy’s always really clear in how she’s approaching the game, and that reflects in how I’m trying to (approach it) as well.
“We just tried to stay calm … we weren’t in a great position early, but we knew that if we built a partnership, the wicket was actually really good.
“Belsy had a read of the wicket before I got out there, so she was just really clear in what was working for her, and then I was just trying to implement the same thing.”
There was a slight delay in Australia’s march towards victory when Gardner tried to help Sutherland, who was off-strike on 95 with four runs required for victory, reach her century.
She had a crack, miscuing an attempt to hit Sophie Ecclestone over the rope and running two as Heather Knight put down the high chance, before only managing a single after picking out the fielder when trying to drive straight down the ground.
Sutherland, unsurprisingly, insisted she was unbothered to have missed out on the milestone.
“I wasn’t thinking a lot about it, to be honest” she said.
“I wanted the game to be done and when Ecclestone was bowling I said to Ash, ‘Just get it done please’.
“Ash really earned that hundred and I was happy just to get the win.”
2025 Women’s ODI World Cup
Australia squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham
Australia’s group stage matches
October 1: Australia beat New Zealand by 89 runs
October 4: v Sri Lanka: Abandoned without a ball bowled
October 8: Australia beat Pakistan by 107 runs
October 12: Australia beat India by 3 wickets
October 16: Australia beat Bangladesh by 10 wickets
October 22: Australia beat England by 6 wickets
October 25: v South Africa, Holkar Stadium, Indore, 8:30pm AEDT
Finals
Semi-final 1: Guwahati, October 29, 8:30pm AEDT
Semi-final 2: Mumbai, October 30, 8:30pm AEDT
Final: Mumbai, November 2, 8:30pm AEDT
All matches to be broadcast exclusively live and free on Prime Video.
