The Surge Pod: From prodigies to unsuspecting young leaders

Will Annabel Sutherland go on to be the greatest Australian woman cricketer of all-time?

Former New Zealand international turned cricket commentator, Katey Martin, made that bold prediction on Channel Seven's broadcast before Sunday's Melbourne derby.

"It's nice. Doesn't really bother me," said the 24-year-old allrounder, politely deflecting the high praise.

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Sutherland is now in her second season as the Melbourne Stars' full-time captain and is trying to turn the side's fortunes around.

Kirby Short, Cricket Victoria's head of female cricket and The Surge podcast expert, had highlighted the youngster's challenge of balancing the growth of her own game with the demands of leadership during the previous episode.

Sutherland joined Short and host Adam White on the podcast this week and shared her experience of warming up to the captaincy.

She admitted she didn't actively pursue the role and was learning on the job.

"It's not something I've really gone after," Sutherland, who made her WBBL debut as a 15-year-old, said of being appointed Stars captain. "I think the way that my cricket has panned out so far …  I was thrown into the Aussie team pretty early on. Big Bash happened similarly.

"So, I was pretty young in kind of all the teams I stepped into and was pretty focused on just closing the gap between where I saw myself and the best players in the teams that I was in."

Self-admittedly not someone who takes a loss well, Sutherland has taken on the challenge of turning it around for Stars, who have finished lower on the WBBL ladder each season for the past four years, landing at the bottom in WBBL|10 under her captaincy.

"I love being part of successful teams, and the way that teams operate is certainly interesting to me," she said.

"I'm learning a lot. Certainly not getting it right all the time."

"I guess that's the challenge of captaincy too – you're not going to get everything right. (I'm) trying to work it out on the on the go."

Coming into Weber WBBL|11 on back of a great run in international cricket, Sutherland naturally attracts a lot attention to her growing stature as a player. Her impressive ODI World Cup campaign, where she was Australia's leading wicket-taker and also came close to registering a maiden World Cup century, came after a 20-month period lined with several big performances.

But the Stars skipper is unbothered about the expectations on her individually and is solely focused on how her team is going in the competition.

"I don't really think about it, to be honest, like it doesn't really phase me," she said of the hype around her form.

"I think the way that I go about it is what brings me enjoyment, in terms of trying to get better and helping the team get better.

"You want to be as consistent as possible and have success as an individual, but the team stuff is kind of more important to me, and that's kind of what drives me."

Much like Sutherland, South Africa's Laura Wolvaardt knows what it is like to shoulder the responsibility of leading a side as a prodigious young player.

The Adelaide Strikers' international, known for exquisite stroke play, of which her off-drive is regarded among the best in the world, also joined The Surge from Hobart during the latest episode, where her team will face the Hurricanes on Tuesday.

Since taking over Proteas' captaincy in 2023 aged 24, Wolvaardt has led her nation to two World Cup finals. She hit back-to-back centuries in the semi-final and final of the recent 50-over World Cup, and even though the side fell short in the title clash, she believes the successful run has the potential to bring about a women's cricket revolution in the rainbow nation.

"It sounded like everyone was following the cricket and watching it. I just hope there were so many young girls who had a light bulb moment that there is women's cricket in the country, and that, we're actually pretty good, and you can make a career out of it," Wolvaardt said.

"It's huge for us as a country. I think after the first final we made back at Newlands in South Africa in the home T20 World Cup (in 2023), we had domestic contracts introduced. For the last two seasons, we've had contracted players in each province being able to play cricket full time.

"I think if we keep making finals, that'll just continue to grow. Hopefully we get some form of a league one day."

For now, she is happy to be back with a familiar group in the WBBL, now in her sixth season with the Strikers.

The team had a forgettable campaign last season, finishing seventh despite being the two-time defending champions.

Describing that experience as a "wake-up call", Wolvaardt expressed confidence that they can bounce back strongly in WBBL|11.

"(It's) pretty similar squad to what we had when we won those back-to-back titles," she said.

"It's just funny sometimes, like last season, we ended bottom of the table. And you don't really know what's different, but I think it was maybe just a little wake-up call that we needed, and it feels like the old Strikers of two seasons ago when we won that title."

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