Annabel Sutherland: WPL will provide intel about India before the World Cup

It feels like it's been a long summer with lots of cricket, starting with that World Cup [in October 2024 in the UAEI've sort of moved series to series, tournament to tournament. There's so much cricket on so it's hard to look at it as a whole. Hopefully when WPL [is over] - and we've got a couple of games against New Zealand, and then the season's officially done - I think when there's a bit more of a break there, then I'll be able to reflect a bit more. Proud I've been able to contribute to especially the Australian team and stand up in different moments, which has been nice.

I don't think there's one specific thing. I think I'm quite versatile in terms of the change-ups I've got - I've got decent pace too - so I think it's just about assessing the conditions every wicket you play on - even if it's the same ground, it is a little bit different - and trying to work out what's working as soon as possible. We've got a great bowling attack, very experienced with Kappy [Marizanne Kapp] and Shikha Pandey as well, who often start us off really well and [I] can get some good information from those guys before I come on, sort of more through the middle. But enjoying the challenge of often batter-friendly conditions and trying to navigate through a bowling innings when batters are going hard, and the boundaries are pretty short and the outfield's fast too.

I think [I developed it] early on in WBBL when I was really young. I realised I had to work on a change-up to make it a little bit harder for batters. So I've got a couple of change-ups now. The offcutter is my go-to one early.

Given my action, it was probably the easiest one to bank on. But I think I've definitely worked on it to make sure no matter what kind of conditions I'm playing in, it can work. I've got really good control over length, and I think it's a big one for me to be able to use it in any condition and any format.

Not that I'm willing to reveal [smiles]. I'm always working on different things, but that's for everyone to see on the field.

It's probably more about volume, trying to get comfortable under the lights and get used to the conditions. I think every stadium's a bit different where the lights are at. The ball can get caught in the lights so it's about just kind of picking up the depth. It can change or vary depending on the ground. So it is also about challenging yourself and not just practicing easy catches. You want to be dropping catches at training because that means they're hard and you're going to be ready for the game. That's how I think about it.

We're a really athletic team. Even someone like Niki Prasad - she's young, but you can see how well she moves in the field. She's taking some really high-quality catches and doesn't look out of place at all. I think that's no fluke. Everyone puts in a lot of time as they should, because it's such a key part of the game, particularly in T20 cricket. It can turn a game and the momentum can shift. We know how important that is. It's something we pride ourselves on at Delhi Capitals, that we want to be the best fielding team in the competition. I think we're up there at the moment.

Culturally, there's a significant difference with the Indian local players. I've really enjoyed spending time and getting to know [them], that's a pretty cool part of playing the WPL. The WBBL has gone for ten years now. I think domestic players [there] are probably a bit more experienced. I think they have a certain level of calmness about them - which I think the Indian players will keep improving on - given the amount of cricket the Aussie girls have played at that professional level. I think the more you play, the better you get in different pressure situations.

Obviously, the crowds are insane over here. It's been lots of fun to play in front of some really good crowds with lots of noise at the Chinnaswamy [in Bengaluru]. The last game we played against RCB, it was super loud and we were able to quieten the crowd in our batting innings, which was nice. The crowds are certainly a highlight playing over here.

Not intimidated. I think you're going to embrace it. It's definitely part of the game, particularly in India. They're probably louder than 86,000 at the G. They put up pretty good competition for that in terms of noise, but atmosphere-wise, it's pretty hard to go past the MCG final.

The key part of a World Cup is you're moving around changing venues. You want to get as much intel as you can before playing the game. I think it'd be at the back of everyone's minds that [the World Cup] is coming up.

I think that's all external pressure, to be honest. We've got a really good environment in our Australian team. We know how hard everyone works, and we set our own standards probably higher than the external people do. That's all the training and the work we do behind the scenes. I think cricket's a tough game. We pride ourselves on our standards, so the pressure is kind of external noise.

Yes, I think so. But I think if you're doing the work, that's all you can do at the end of the day. It's a positive sign of where Australian cricket is at. There's so much depth and our domestic cricket is really strong. We've seen with injuries and different things that happen that we've got great coverage across the country. Yet, at the same time, you got to be working on your game all the time trying to get better, because there's people that are knocking on the door who are pretty hungry to play for Australia. That's why you got to work hard and I know everyone's doing that at the moment.

There's no such thing as too much Meg. She's a superstar of the game. Just being able to play under her… she's had a big impact on me. She's super competitive. I love the way she plays the game. She would do anything to get the team over the line and get a win. I love that she trusts her instincts. She's got a real good intuition of the game and more often than not she gets the right call.

Having two brothers sort of means everything's going to be pretty competitive. We all loved sport growing up. In the backyard, there was a lot of competition, a few tantrums - that was all part of it. Cricket was one of the sports we played a lot, and we all love it. That [is why] we are still playing it now. It's a nice thing to share with my siblings.

I think it's important given how much cricket's on at the moment to have a healthy balance in terms of when you do get time off, whether it's days or weeks between tours and tournaments, you need to make sure you have a really good balance of being away from games. I got real good people around me in terms of my friends and family who keep that balance, which is nice.