Annabel Sutherland primed if Test duty calls

She has only played two Tests but Annabel Sutherland isn't one to baulk at the unique challenges of a multi-day, red-ball game - quite the opposite, in fact.

Her six-over spell at the very end of the last Women's Ashes Test very nearly swung the match in Australia's favour, yielding all three of her wickets for the fourth innings before England's tailenders, Kate Cross and Sophie Ecclestone, clung on for a draw in the face of Alana King's efforts to prise out the one wicket Australia needed from the final over.

Sutherland took five wickets in total during that Ashes Test, her second appearance in the format, some four months after Australia drew with India, also in Canberra. She has played 31 white-ball matches for her country, and now, after arriving for the return Ashes series, Sutherland has been relishing the chance to get used to the Dukes ball in English conditions ahead of next week's Test at Trent Bridge.

"I've got a bit of a wobble-seam ball going, which has been nice, and so far I've loved it," Sutherland said. "I'm looking forward to getting out there for the three-dayer and putting it into practice against the England A girls."

England have experience playing with the red Dukes ball, having used it in last year's Test against South Africa at Taunton, but both squads will be using this week's three-day warm-up matches to gather more information. Australia will play England A in Leicester from Thursday while Australia A will face the England Test squad in Derby at the same time.

Sutherland said a two-day practice match between Australia and Australia A had helped players become used to using the Dukes ball, as had some intelligence from assistant coach Scott Prestwidge and a number of Australia Men's players, including Mitchell Starc, during a series of training camps in Brisbane last month.

The upcoming three-day warm-up fixture also represents a chance for Sutherland to press for selection in the final XI for the Test starting on June 22 amid an Australian pace-bowling attack well stocked with contenders.

"I'm super keen," Sutherland said. "There's so much history that goes along with Australia and England and the Ashes. This one's been flagged on my radar for a long time, my first trip over to England playing in an Ashes so I'm very excited and looking forward to what's to come in the next month or so."

Sutherland was looking forward to watching Ellyse Perry in action with her natural ability to swing the ball and vast experience, having played nine of her 10 Tests against England, four of those in England. And while they will be without regular captain Meg Lanning, who pulled out of the tour for medical reasons, Sutherland said the Australians had overcome the initial shock of her withdrawal and had every faith in stand-in skipper Alyssa Healy and her deputy, Tahlia McGrath.

"Obviously, we would love to have Meg here and our thoughts are certainly with her back home," Sutherland said. "We've talked about it as a group that it's obviously a big, big miss to not have Meg. She's an outstanding player and leader of the team, so we're certainly going to miss having her.

"But in saying that, I think Alyssa and T-Mac are exceptional leaders in their own right. We know it's going to be a big miss, but we think we've got really good depth in our side to fill that and have shown that in previous series where Meg hasn't been there."

Shelley Nitschke, Australia's head coach, agreed that Lanning was a big loss to the side but was comfortable with the plans in place to deal with her absence.

"It's really disappointing for Meg that she's not able to join us and she's in our thoughts but we've had some time together at a camp in Brisbane, we've spoken a bit about it as a group and I know Alyssa is very well placed," Nitschke said. "She's got some really good support in Tahlia McGrath and some other really senior players within the team that are going to step up into some leadership responsibilities.

"I think we're really well placed to cover her but we certainly understand that she's a great player, a great captain, so definitely going to be missed for us this campaign."

Phoebe Litchfield, the 20-year-old batter, is poised to come into the Australian line-up in Lanning's absence, either in the middle-order or as opener should Healy move down the order as she spreads her responsibilities across wicketkeeping, batting and now the captaincy. Litchfield was Player of the Match with 78 not out in Australia's first ODI against Pakistan in January and scored an unbeaten 67 in the second, both as an opener.

Despite being part of the squad, powerful hitter Grace Harris was not required for the Test and will therefore arrive in England next week. Experienced left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen will captain Australia A during the warm-up match with Tess Flintoff joining the Australia squad to face England A.