‘Big blow’: Aussie star ruled out of World Cup semi-final against West Indies

Australia’s World Cup ambitions have been dealt a significant setback with a star all-rounder to miss Wednesday’s semi-final.

Ellyse Perry won’t play in Australia’s World Cup semi-final. Picture: Mark Tantrum/Getty Images

Australian captain Meg Lanning knows the depth of her squad is set for its sternest test of the World Cup after superstar all-rounder Ellyse Perry “ran out of time” to prove her fitness for Wednesday‘s knockout semi-final against the West Indies.

Positivity on Monday from Perry, who suffered back spasms in the second last pool match against South Africa a week ago, was turned on its head on Tuesday when Lanning said the 31-year-old hadn’t done enough at training to prove her fitness.

Perry, who missed Australia’s T20 World Cup triumph in front of more than 86,000 people at the MCG in 2020, could yet play in Sunday’s final should her team progress with victory over the Windies in Wellington.

But it’s no certainty.

“She hasn’t done a lot over the past week. She batted a little bit in the nets yesterday and felt OK,” Lanning said of Perry.

“She certainly just wasn’t in a position to be able to perform at the level needed. Unfortunately, just ran out of time to prove her fitness,

“We haven’t looked too far ahead, we’ll keep assessing her as we go if we are to progress, but the team and squad is very focused on tomorrow and putting out our best game because everything else is irrelevant.

Ellyse Perry has been ruled out of the World Cup semi-final.

“I’m sure there is work going on in the background to get her up to play if we were to get through.

“But we’re just really focused on tomorrow and the players who are going to go out and perform.”

On Monday Perry said she “felt good” after suffering back spasms for the first time, but conceded she hadn’t done any training and was unsure how she’d get through the fitness test at training.

Annabel Sutherland, who replaced Perry in the final pool game against Bangladesh and scored a crucial 26 not out in a 66-run partnership with Beth Mooney to get Australia home after an early stumble, looks set to hold her place in the team.

“We’ve spoken a lot about the depth we’ve got within our squad. I guess now we’re going to be tested,” Lanning said.

“I guess, that’s what it comes down to: new players stepping up in different situations and not relying on one or two players. So that gives me a lot of confidence; it gives the team a lot of confidence that someone like Annabel could come into the team and make an impact straightaway, so hopefully she can do it again tomorrow.

Australia's Annabel Sutherland looks set to keep her place in the team for the semi-final. Picture: Marty Melville / AFP

“The way we have approached every game this tournament is it’s not going to be easy and we’re going to have to put our best game out to win.

“That’s what we came here to do, get through the group stage and win a semi-final.”

Australia are $1.10 favourites to beat the Windies and advance to the Sunday’s final in Christchurch after thrashing them in the group stages, bowling them out for 131 before chasing down the target with 19 overs to spare.

Australia v West Indies, Basin Reserve, Wellington, 9am AEDT

LIKELY AUSTRALIAN XI: Alyssa Healy, Rachael Haynes, Meg Lanning (C), Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ash Gardner, Annabel Sutherland, Jess Jonassen, Alanna King, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown.

Originally published as ‘Big blow’: Aussie star ruled out of World Cup semi-final against West Indies