The Surge Pod: The Stars captain who is 'wired to improve'

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If it takes one to know one, Kirby Short’s the perfect person to run the ruler over the standout captaincy performances during the opening two rounds of WBBL|11.

Short, who led the Brisbane Heat to the title in WBBL|05, joined The Surge to analyse the various challenges the captains have dealt with in the early stages of the new season.

Thanks to her new role as Cricket Victoria’s new Head of Female Cricket, Short’s eye was naturally drawn to two of her own – Annabel Sutherland at the Melbourne Stars, and Melbourne Renegades counterpart Georgia Wareham.

According to Short, Sutherland is a skipper who is ‘wired to improve’, while she hailed Wareham as ‘the most unflappable cricketer’ she has seen.

“She’s an unbelievable athlete, isn’t she?”, Short mused of Sutherland.

“As a cricketer, let’s pause for a minute and recognise she’s 24-years-old. It sounds like we’re talking about someone who is 35 and has had a 20-year career playing for Australia.

“There are so many things to like about her from an ability perspective.”

One of Sutherland’s challenges, according to Short, has been the need to balance the needs of her own game with those of her teammates, particularly when her preparation involved a two-month stint on the road for the ICC Women's ODI World Cup.

“(For) the leadership piece … it’s been really interesting as someone coming from outside that bubble watch her go about her business in terms of how she wanted to prepare for this iteration of WBBL, knowing that was her role and that was her opportunity.”

“She has been at a World Cup trying to perform there, happens to be the leading wicket taker for Australia at that World Cup as well, whilst she’s trying to do the right thing in connecting with her teammates and planning and preparing from a Stars strategy perspective.

“So much for her to have on her plate, so much to like about her capacity as a leader.”

Sutherland has responded well to the challenge, opening her WBBL|11 campaign with an unbeaten half-century against the Strikers. That ability to adapt and perform in all situations is, says Short, a result of her diligence and hunger to grow.

“She’s wired to improve.

“She loves the challenge of finding new ways to get better and leadership will be no different.

“The only difference with that is because there are so many humans involved in what that iteration looks like, the challenge is it’s less controllable than when you’re preparing just for your own performance.

“I think one of the challenges – there will be many, as a leader of a WBBL team when you’re doing it for the second time in your career – is to strike that balance between getting the best out of herself, getting the best out of her team, but also enjoying the ride.”

Georgia Wareham’s path to the captaincy of the Renegades was a little less conventional.

It took an injury to incumbent Sophie Molineux, and the season-long absence of Hayley Matthews, who has previously stood in for Molineux, for Wareham to be given the opportunity; one she has taken with both hands in her side’s back-to-back wins.

It’s not just Wareham’s five wickets across the two games, nor her 58 from 32 balls to seal victory over the Thunder, either. Rather, it’s the way she has adapted to her increased responsibilities immediately after a gruelling tour of India that has impressed Short most.

“She is such a relaxed character, Georgia Wareham. She just is the most unflappable cricketer I might have ever encountered,” she said.

“I think it’s the composure that really struck me about her first two performances this season.

“It's really easy to underestimate the toll those sorts of tours take … Not only is it a gruelling tour in India to begin with, it’s really long, the 50-over World Cup has so many complexities to it, plus they were eliminated in a semi-final which no one would have predicted, so put all of that together and then you’ve got to try and find a way to get rid of the jetlag, physically prepare yourself, reengage with a new team and then add on top of that, in Georgia Wareham’s case, captaincy responsibility too.

“You can’t say enough about how challenging that would have been mentally and physically, and for her to then produce the all-round performances she has and make all those decisions from a leadership perspective? Wonderful.”

Weber WBBL|11 Standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Total points PTS
1 Hobart Hurricanes Women HUR	10	7	2	0	1	0.662	0	15
2 Sydney Sixers Women SIX	10	6	3	0	1	-0.313	0	13
3 Perth Scorchers Women SCO	10	6	4	0	0	-0.132	0	12
4 Melbourne Stars Women STA	10	5	4	0	1	0.629	0	11
5 Melbourne Renegades Women REN	10	5	5	0	0	0.121	0	10
6 Adelaide Strikers Women STR	10	3	4	0	3	0.077	0	9
7 Sydney Thunder Women THU	10	4	5	0	1	-0.124	0	9
8 Brisbane Heat Women HEA	10	0	9	0	1	-0.869	0	1

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

PTS: Total points