Annabel Sutherland says carefully managing player workloads will become increasingly important as the women’s schedule becomes busier, following her return to Australia’s T20I squad.
Sutherland sat out Australia’s white-ball tour of the West Indies in March in order to fully recharge ahead of next month’s T20 World Cup in England and Wales.
While it is commonplace in the men’s game for top players to miss the occasional tour, it is very rare for the Australian women to opt out of a series.
But the two-time reigning Belinda Clark Award-winner said it had been necessary following a packed six-month period that started with the ODI World Cup in India and ended with the multi-format series against Harmanpreet Kaur’s team.
“I think it’s obviously tough when your teammates are playing and I absolutely love playing for and representing Australia, so I missed that – but I knew it was the right call for me, to be honest,” Sutherland told cricket.com.au in Brisbane this week.
“Physically, mentally, just to refresh and prioritise what I needed to make sure that I’m raring to go for when it matters most – which is this T20 World Cup.
“It was really well supported by Cricket Australia … it was a two-way discussion in terms of what was best for me and best for the team looking ahead to the T20 World Cup.”
In January, Sutherland withdrew from a lucrative Women’s Premier League contract to freshen up for the multi-format series against India.
After a period of complete ‘tools down’ in terms of cricket skills across March and early April, Sutherland started building back up towards the World Cup over the last month before joining her teammates in camp in Brisbane this week.
“I had a good amount of time at home, which was nice, a bit of a holiday but just time at home, which is bit of a rarity,” she said.
“(I’m) feeling refreshed, ready to go and importantly, energised and looking forward to what’s to come, which is a big couple of months away.
“I think as the schedule gets fuller, the demands are just going to keep increasing and I hope that we’re prioritising the wellbeing of individuals.
“It’s a bit of a case-by-case thing, different people need different things.”
Australia coach Shelley Nitschke agreed that the need to manage players would only become more pressing.
A new ICC tournament will be added to the women’s schedule from 2027, a T20 Champions Trophy, first held in Sri Lanka and running immediately prior to the Ashes.
The Olympics have been added to the calendar from 2028, while overseas franchise tournaments are also offering increased opportunities for the world’s top players.
“It’s certainly something that we’re speaking about,” Nitschke said.
“We’ve been going through (the schedule) over the last few days and when you put in the franchise stuff it is quite busy.
“It’s certainly something that we look at and speak about.
“Obviously, we haven’t seen too much (management) at the moment (and) we’re hoping to have everyone available play for Australia when they can.
“So, it’s just about managing and being really smart in decisions that we make, and players make as well.”
Sutherland will go into the World Cup as one of Australia’s most important weapons with ball in hand through the middle and later overs, but with a question mark over her position in the batting order.
Against India in February, she batted at no.8 in the series opener at the SCG, scoring three, before coming in at No.7 in the third game, scoring 14 off nine.
In Tests, the 24-year-old averages a remarkable 89.37 from 10 innings, while she averages 40.84 in ODIs where she has cemented her place in the top five.
The only frontier Sutherland has yet to fully crack is her batting in the shortest format, averaging 11.55 at a strike rate of 136.84 – albeit with scant opportunity, having batted just 23 times in 48 matches with the majority of those coming at No.7 or lower.
“I want to impact the team as much as I can, and doing that with bat and ball is part of my role … we’ve got a pretty stacked batting order that we pretty much bat down to 10 or 11,” Sutherland said.
“Wherever I sit in that (order) I want to impact the game, and if I get the chance to do that, then that’s awesome.
“There’s always things I’m working away at.
“The ability to be a consistent contributor in terms of those match-winning knocks in the T20 game, in a game that is high risk, high reward … I guess failure comes with that in the T20 game, you fail a lot more than you succeed when you’re taking higher risks.
“So acknowledging that that consistency isn’t always going to look the same as the longer formats, but I’m always trying to find different ways to impact and get better as a player.”
ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026
Australia squad: Sophie Molineux (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton, Grace Harris, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham. Travelling reserve: Tahlia Wilson
Warm-up series v South Africa
May 31: Australia v South Africa, Arundel Castle
June 2: Australia v South Africa, Arundel Castle
June 4: Australia v South Africa, Arundel Castle
ICC World Cup warm-up matches
June 9: v England, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, 12am AEST
June 11: v West Indies, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, 12am AEST
Australia’s Group 1 fixtures
June 13: v South Africa, Old Trafford, Manchester, 11:30pm AEST
June 17: v Bangladesh, Headingley, Leeds, 7:30pm AEST
June 20: v Netherlands, Rose Bowl, Hampshire, 7:30pm AEST
June 24: v Pakistan, Headingley, Leeds, 3:30am AEST
June 28: v India, Lord’s, London, 11:30pm AEST
Semi-final 1: The Oval, London, June 30, 11:30pm AEST
Semi-final 2: The Oval, London, July 2 (3:30am July 3 AEST)
Final: Lord’s, London, July 5, 11:30pm AEST
Click here for the full tournament schedule
All matches will be broadcast on Amazon’s Prime Video
