Women’s cricket’s best all-rounder Ellyse Perry gives ominous warning to the world: The Aussie team will keep getting better
Ellyse Perry – one of the world’s great all-rounders – has a grandiose plan for women’s cricket: for the Australian team to completely change the way the game is played.
Women's sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Women's sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Ooh, aah, Tahlia McGrath! SA star nabs Cricket Australia contract
- Cricket contract list exposes glaring weak points
- Cornered CA boss fronts 200 angry staff
Ellyse Perry has an ominous warning for the rest of cricketing world: the Australian Women’s Cricket team hasn’t remotely tapped into its full potential yet.
Perry, whose torn hamstring kept her out of Australia’s convincing T20 World Cup final triumph over India, said the tournament showed a closing gap between Australia and the rest.
Despite the Aussies saving their best T20 World Cup performance for last, they had to overcome a shaky pool stage where they were beaten by India, very nearly lost to Sri Lanka and just scraped through a rain-affected semi-final against South Africa.
“The World Cup showed that despite the fact we’ve got probably the most resources and the best playing conditions, there are a lot of teams that are still really close to us and pushing us and that’s a huge challenge for us now to take another step forward and reinvent what’s going on,” the 29-year-old all-rounder said.
“I think we should be looking to literally change the way the game’s played.
“There’s so much scope there for development, whether it’s athletically or from a skills point of view, and we’ve got the opportunity to lead that and create a much bigger gap than currently exists between us and the rest of the teams in the world.
“There’s huge capacity for physical development within playing squads and that might lead to girls bowling faster than they currently do, and an ability to run quicker between wickets and score more runs, the ability to hit more boundaries and clear the ropes.
“All those kinds of things make a big difference and there are really specific ways of doing that which I don’t think we’ve even tapped into yet.”
It’s something of an ominous warning as the team waits out the COVID-19 shutdown of sport, with eyes firmly on the all-important 50-over World Cup in New Zealand in February, 2021.
With a view to adding the 2021 World Cup to its ever-expanding trophy cabinet, the Australian selectors unveiled their 15-player contracted squad for the upcoming season, which included a number of all-rounders to back up Perry, including South Australian newcomer Tahlia McGrath and Tasmania’s Nicola Carey.
Perry required surgery on her torn hamstring – suffered when attempting a run out against New Zealand during the T20 World Cup – and she is now seven weeks post-op and tracking along nicely with her rehab.
Last month, Perry was named Wisden’s Leading Women’s Cricketer of the World for 2019.
It was the second time she’d received the accolade, making her the first woman to do so.
“Those kind of acknowledgments are always incredibly lovely and I certainly really appreciate them,” she said.
“I’ve had such an amazing 18 months with the team, we’ve achieved a lot over that time.”
But she couldn’t put her 2019 form – which included a century in the Women’s Ashes Test match and becoming the first cricketer (male or female) to score 1000 runs and take 100 wickets in T20 internationals – down to any one magic thing.
“You just get older, more experienced, and things click at different times for you
… it’s nothing exciting to be honest, you just keep chipping away at everything and you eventually get better at it, little bit by little bit,” she said.
“There’s no fancy secret that changes everything, well, I don’t think that.
“You just keep working, you keep learning.”
MORE NEWS
‘Never been a more important time to work together’: Cricket’s biggest challenge post-corona
Coronavirus epidemic paves way for revamped Big Bash League
Mitchell Marsh replaces older brother in Cricket Australia national contract list
COVID-19 crashes Jonassen’s wedding plans
May 2, 2020 was meant to be the best day of Australian all-rounder Jess Jonassen’s life: the day she married fiancee, Sarah Gooderham.
Instead, the couple will spend a quiet day in their Brisbane home, forced to not only postpone their wedding, but cancel their planned honeymoon to Hawaii amid the coronavirus global pandemic.
“It’s pretty sad, but I’ve had a few friends pop around at various times and had a few gifts from them, so that was nice to know that people were thinking of us,” she said.
Jonassen, who had her Cricket Australia playing contract renewed on Thursday after a stellar season that saw her take 10 wickets at the recent T20 Women’s World Cup, said it was important to the couple that they postpone the wedding, and not hold it with reduced numbers.
“We had planned and put so much effort into having the day that we wanted, that we were going to make sure that we could still have that day, it will just be further down the track than we initially planned for,” the left-arm orthodox spinner said.
“It was quite challenging initially and still at times when you get a notification that we should have been checking into a hotel or whatnot at this time.
“Knowing that we weren’t the only ones impacted by it probably helped.”
And then there was the cancelled honeymoon.
“We were meant to be going to Hawaii, and we’re gutted about that, it would have been our first genuine holiday together that didn’t involve cricket.”
But she said, they wouldn’t be celebrating the “wedding that wasn’t” on Saturday.
“We’ve got a bottle of Moet we might have to crack open … but we’ll keep it low key, and try not to think about it too much because it’s a bit disappointing, but obviously there are bigger things going on in the world.”
And those “bigger things” include the global fallout of the sport shutdown forced by COVID-19, with another sporting competition fallen victim: the England Cricket Board officially cancelled its new Hundred venture, due to start in July.
Jonassen, 27, had signed on with the Welsh Fire in the new 100-ball tournament, and was due to be coached by her Aussie coach, Matthew Mott.
“It was probably inevitable in the sense that what’s going on,” she said.
“It’s extremely disappointing, but hopefully I can be a part of it next season when it can kick off again and everybody can get behind it.
“I know there a number of female players over there who are struggling with it a little bit because it was an ideal opportunity for them to playing professionally.”
Originally published as Women’s cricket’s best all-rounder Ellyse Perry gives ominous warning to the world: The Aussie team will keep getting better
“Invincibles”: How Edge Hill United women’s rose from despair
After an unprecedented past three years, Edge Hill United women’s have gone from domination, to down-and-out and winless, to now marking an invincible season in 2024.
That’s a wrap! Thrillers, blowouts in Sariah Paki, Madison Ashby 7s finale
There were bursts of speed, great skills in wild winds and multiple scorers as the Sariah Paki and Madi Ashby 7s girl’s rugby season came to an end. Stars and result wrap from grand final day.