'Amazing' Sutherland capitalises on rare Test appearance, again

Annabel Sutherland summed up her first two days at the WACA Ground perfectly on Saturday evening, quipping on broadcast, "How good is cricket?"

Pretty damn enjoyable, it's safe to assume, when you have just amassed a fourth Test century and backed it up with two key India wickets. And that's hot on the heels of a career-best 4-46 with ball in hand on day one.

While Ellyse Perry owned the early headlines on Saturday when she passed 1,000 Test runs to become Australia's top female run scorer in the format, the rest of the day belonged to Sutherland.

There was a scare on 90, when Richa Ghosh put down a tough chance behind the stumps, but Sutherland was otherwise close to flawless as she reached triple figures for the fourth time in a Test.

Sutherland is now the only Australian cricketer to have four women's Test hundreds, and she is the first ever to get three consecutive hundreds in three successive women's Tests innings.

Her three most recent scores are 210, 163 and 129, and Sutherland now averages 89.37 with the bat in the format.

Asked after play about the secret to her Test success, Sutherland put it succinctly: "Firstly, I just really enjoy batting, and there's plenty of time to bat.

"Technically it probably suits my game, and then just the patience side of things is something I've always had growing up, just being able to switch on and off and make the right decisions."

Beyond her technical and temperamental advantages, there is another quite simple driving factor – and it's the same one that has powered Perry throughout her career.  

Scarcity.

"Test matches don't come around too often," Sutherland said.

"We don't get to do it very often, and I just love being out there, to be honest, and spending time building partnerships.

"I was able to do that well with Pez today and then Moons ... it's more about that than anything else."

Sutherland's three consecutive tons also become all-the-more remarkable when taking that factor into account.

This is not a batter on a hot streak across the one series. Sutherland's three tons spanned more than 24 months – starting with the 210 she hit at the WACA Ground against South Africa in February 2024, followed by 163 against England at the MCG in January 2025.

Going further back, she had a rare miss when Australia played India in a Test at Wankhede in December 2023, scoring 16 and 27. Just six months earlier, a 21-year-old Sutherland had scored her first red-ball hundred, an unbeaten 137 against England at Trent Bridge, becoming the youngest Aussie woman to do so in an Ashes Test.

It was in the lead-up to that breakthrough innings in Nottingham that captain Alyssa Healy had tipped Sutherland was due to "bang the door down" in international cricket. Since then, the Victorian has dominated Test and ODI cricket – with ball as well as back – winning back-to-back Belinda Clark Awards. 

"It's hard to put into words, she's such a special player," Australia's incoming captain Sophie Molineux told Channel Seven when asked about Sutherland's record.

"What she's been able to achieve in the game already, she's only 24 years old.

"Amazing head on her shoulders ... she's always thinking about the game and how she can improve, and the big part about Belsy, she's really put in a lot of work and effort into how she could help others improve as well."

The Victorian has taken just ten innings to score four hundreds in Tests, the quickest among women, and with more than 700 runs already to her name it seems only a matter of time until she mows down Perry's record.

On her current trajectory, she should also overtake the current record for most Test tons by a woman from any country, which currently is the five scored by England's Jan Brittin across a decorated career that spanned 1979-1998.

Whether Sutherland gets to bat again in this game remains to be seen. If not, she will need to wait at least 12 months for her next chance to wear the Baggy Green.

After Australia's planned Test against West Indies later this month was removed from the schedule, their next multi-day game is due to be played in South Africa in March-April 2027, followed by an Ashes Test at Headingley later the same year.

Regardless, Sutherland is not focused on the numbers.

"I don't look at stats too much, to be honest," she said. "(They just show) how much I love playing Test cricket.

"It's probably one that I'll look back on (after I retire).

"For the last couple of days, I've just been trying to be really present in the moment ... we're all having a lot of fun out there, judging by the smiles on everyone's faces, so I'm trying to soak it up.

"We don't play Tests very often, so it's more about trying to be in the moment, I think that's when I play my best cricket and when our team plays our best cricket as well."

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)