Captaincy call sets Sutherland up for success in WBBL|12

Annabel Sutherland says she's in "a good place" with her T20 game, starting WBBL|12 season with a starring show with bat and ball following her the decision to step away from the Melbourne Stars captaincy.

Sutherland and the Melbourne Stars launched Weber WBBL|12 on a dominant note on Thursday night, defeating reigning champions Hobart Hurricanes by 18 runs.

The star Australia allrounder hit 57 from 36 deliveries, sharing a 109-run stand with returning skipper Meg Lanning. Sutherland then picked up 3-34 from her four overs as the Stars beat the Hurricanes by 18 runs.

Sutherland had taken over the Stars captaincy two seasons ago as a 23-year-old and oversaw the club's return to the finals in WBBL|11.

But with an already heavy all-round workload with the Stars and in the national side, and with a busy six months ahead that will see Australia's top players head to Sri Lanka in December for an ODI tour, to India for the WPL in January, followed by the T20 Champions Trophy in February, then home ODIs against New Zealand in March before a multi-format tour of South Africa ending in mid-April, something had to give.

Sutherland is still providing a sounding board for Lanning, who told cricket.com.au last week she was eager to take a collaborative approach to her third stint as Stars captain.

"I think (it's giving me) just a little bit more mental space, and that just gives me a little bit of that capacity back, especially coming off an Australian tour," Sutherland said on Thursday. "But at the end of the day, my cricket brain doesn't really switch off too much.

"Nothing really changes for me on field ... I felt like Meg and I worked really well together (on Thursday), just working through the bowling changes and the options.

"It's always a bit chaotic first game out there and felt like it was good to bounce some ideas off her, and nice just to be on the winning side."

Thursday's innings was Sutherland's fifth WBBL half-century, in positive signs for the allrounder whose contributions at No.4 will be crucial for the Stars this season.

Translating her world-class Test and ODI batting into the shortest format has been something of the final frontier for the back-to-back Belinda Clark Award winner. After debuting in the WBBL as a 15-year-old and primarily playing as a pace bowler before working her way up the batting order, Sutherland has a Big Bash average of 24.97 and strike rate of 114.56 from 46 innings in her current role at No.4.

But there's no doubt it's only a matter of time before Sutherland dominates the Big Bash with the willow. In August, she was crowned player of the tournament at the UK's Hundred after scoring 315 runs at an average of 63 and strike rate of 153 for Leeds, backed up by her 11 wickets. Across her past three seasons in the English franchise competition batting at No.4, she's averaged 48.86 and struck at 141.

She carried that form into the ODIs against Bangladesh, posting unbeaten knocks of 74 and 25, but had limited opportunities batting at No.7 in the T20I side, scoring 10 and 9 across her two innings against the White Ferns.

With the Stars bidding farewell to South Africa allrounder Marizanne Kapp this season, Sutherland's middle-order contributions will be more important than ever.

"I feel in a really good place," Sutherland said. "I feel like I've got (scoring) options all around the ground, (against) spin and pace.

"It's nice to get off to a good start and spend a bit of time out there. Any time I can play a role with the bat is awesome.

"You've just got to play what's in front of you at the end of the day, and it's nice to get a bit of time out there and hopefully I can play a role and contribute to a few more wins."

The Stars are playing three matches in five days to begin the season, and Sutherland said it would be crucial to carry on the momentum from their first-up win.

The club will make a quick trip to Adelaide to play the Strikers on Saturday night, before returning to Melbourne to host the Scorchers on Melbourne Cup eve on Monday night.

"Banking some wins early (is important), especially with the way that the schedule has panned out," she said.

"We've got an outstanding bowling attack – both spin and pace – all bases covered, which I think we probably haven't quite had in the past couple of years. (Charlie Dean) was incredible, she just managed the game really well, so it was awesome to see her start really well."

Weber WBBL|12 Standings

Round 1

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	Drawn D	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 Perth Scorchers Women SCO	1	1	0	0	0	0	3.422	0	0	0	2
2 Sydney Thunder Women THU	1	1	0	0	0	0	1.335	0	0	0	2
3 Adelaide Strikers Women STR	1	1	0	0	0	0	1.05	0	0	0	2
4 Sydney Sixers Women SIX	1	1	0	0	0	0	0.15	0	0	0	2
5 Melbourne Stars Women STA	2	1	1	0	0	0	-0.075	0	0	0	2
6 Brisbane Heat Women HEA	1	0	1	0	0	0	-0.15	0	0	0	0
7 Hobart Hurricanes Women HUR	1	0	1	0	0	0	-0.9	0	0	0	0
8 Melbourne Renegades Women REN	2	0	2	0	0	0	-2.265	0	0	0	0

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

D: Drawn

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points