As Australia rest on the doorstep of victory after two days in the Test against India, three names have dominated the conversations emerging out of Perth – Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, and Lucy Hamilton.
Nineteen-year-old debutant Hamilton was the first to make a mark on the proceedings by picking up the big wicket of Smriti Mandhana on day one on route to taking three in total in the first innings.
Then Perry and Sutherland stabilised things for Australia with the bat after the side lost quick wickets at the end of the first day and continued in each other’s company on the next afternoon.
The second day put Perry at the forefront when she brought up her 1,000 runs in the format and overtook Karen Rolton to become the country’s leading run-scorer in women’s Tests.
After Perry fell on 76, Sutherland quickly turned the attention her way by scoring her third consecutive Test ton. Later in the day, she would pick up two big wickets of Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues to go with her four from the first innings.
But when a little resistance was starting to build from the Indian batting unit, it was Hamilton who broke the partnership between Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh by dismissing both in the same over.
Look closely and you will find a line connecting those three names. Whether it can be described as a line of succession is debatable as all three are playing in the same side, but that these three players are made of the same fabric is hard to miss.
Sutherland has been labelled as Perry’s heir-apparent ever since she made her international debut at the age of 19 in 2020. A tall, pacy bowler and a batter with an appetite and ability to make big runs – the comparisons have always been there.
Both players started as bowling allrounders within the Australian side and climbed up the batting order with consistent performances.
As someone who could change the face of the game single-handedly with bat and bowl, Perry has universally been regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time, if not the greatest.
Today, Sutherland is being widely seen as the finest among the active players and her consistency has earned her back-to-back Belinda Clark Awards as the best Australian women’s player of the year.
Despite being 11 years and eight Test matches behind Perry in her career, Sutherland has already scored more centuries than her senior counterpart in the format and is just shy of 300 runs behind her.
As she looks certain to break that record one day, it was fitting that Sutherland was at the other end when Perry crossed 1,000 Test runs and passed Rolton’s mark.
“She’s an absolute superstar,” Sutherland spoke about Perry on Saturday. “It’s pretty cool being out there with her when that milestone got brought up.”
“She’s been one that I think a lot of us coming through, we’ve looked up to, not just for the way that she’s gone about her cricket, but what she’s contributed to the broader game, and the team as well.”
Alongside the on-field dominance, Perry and Sutherland also share their approach to cricket and their love for playing the sport.
Perry has never made a secret of the fact that she loves being in the nets more than playing a game as she can bat for as long as she wants.
Sutherland too had the same child-like enthusiasm when asked for the secret of her success in Test cricket.
“I just really enjoy batting, and there’s plenty of time to bat,” she said. “Technically, it probably suits my game.”
On Friday, India’s Jemimah Rodrigues, who has played alongside both Sutherland and Hamilton in the WBBL and WPL, had curiously likened the debutant to the former.
“She gives me similar vibes to Sutherland, just a younger version,” Rodrigues had said.
What Sutherland would reveal about Hamilton a day later would explain why.
“She came up to me in that last session and just goes, ‘I love Test cricket’,” Sutherland said. “It’s so good, that just shows where she’s at.”
“She’s just slotted straight in, a lot better than I slotted in my first Test, that’s for sure.
“She’s looked like she’s done it pretty easy and hasn’t skipped a beat. So, it’s been really nice to see for her.”
While Hamilton is slotted at No.10 in this jam-packed Australian team, she regularly bats higher up in the order at the domestic and age-group levels.
The finest display of her batting prowess came with the whirlwind 36 off 19 balls in her WPL debut, in which she smashed three sixes, earlier in the year.
All the ingredients of a Perry and Sutherland-like trajectory are present in Hamilton’s early showings. The major difference is that she is a left-armer.
Also unlike the other two, Hamilton has played an ODI and a Test before debuting in the T20I format.
But with her performance over the last two days, she has made a strong case for being considered as an-format player, especially on the back of a tough T20I series Australian bowlers endured against India.
Sutherland has backed her to rise to the challenge should the call arrive ahead of the T20 World Cup in June.
“Lucy’s been awesome,” she said. “(She) just offers that slightly different angle being a left -armer.
“She’s so calm and quietly confident. I love seeing her go about her business.”
NRMA Insurance Australia v India Multi-Format Series
Australia lead the multi-format series 8-4
February 15: First T20: India won by 21 runs (DLS)
February 19: Second T20: Australia won by 19 runs
February 21: Third T20: India won by 17 runs
February 24: First ODI: Australia won by six wickets
February 27: Second ODI: Australia won by five wickets
March 1: Third ODI: Australia won by 185 runs
Australia Test squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Darcie Brown, Maitlan Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Lucy Hamilton, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Rachel Trenaman, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham
India Test squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma, Kashvee Gautam, Sneh Rana, Amanjot Kaur, Uma Chetry, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Kranti Gaud, Vaishnavi Sharma, Sayali Satghare
March 6-9: Test match, WACA Ground, 4:20pm AEDT (D/N)
