Australia v England women’s T20: Ellyse Perry and North Sydney flat deck could see 6000 fans at Pom clash

A FEW years ago Ellyse Perry was playing in front of “family and friends’’. But for Friday night’s Ashes T20 clash, she might have 6000 reasons to get excited.

Ellyse Perry has been there through women’s cricket’s growth. Picture: Toby Zerna

ONLY a few years ago Ellyse Perry was playing for Australia in front of crowds of “just family and friends’’.

So she couldn’t hide her excitement that Cricket Australia are expecting up to 6000 paying punters at North Sydney Oval on Friday night for the first Ashes Twenty20 clash — a record attendance for a stand-alone women’s international on local soil.

“I remember playing in front of just family and friends not that long ago,” Perry said.

“Given the amount of work Cricket Australia have done in terms of building up the game and promoting it, that (crowd figure) isn’t a surprise.’’

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Ellyse Perry has been there through women’s cricket’s growth. Picture: Toby Zerna

Those fans can expect to see plenty of runs with Perry coming off an unbeaten 213 in the weekend’s drawn Test and the T20 being played on the same flat wicket that did absolutely nothing to assist bowlers.

While Australian coach Matt Mott was critical of England’s sluggish run rate on the opening day of the Test — after it became clear the pitch was flat — Perry said you could not blame the tourists because neither country rarely played the longer format of the game.

“Your endeavour always has to be to try and force a result, otherwise the (Test) fixture isn’t as meaningful as it should be in the scheme of the series,’’ Perry told The Daily Telegraph, as she threw her support behind Movember.

“It’s hard to be critical because we don’t play enough (multiple-day cricket). There could be lots of runs on Friday night. With Twenty20 cricket, that’s what people want to see.

“Both batting line-ups are really strong and keen to come out and play some fast, dynamic cricket. If there are a lot of runs, that’s only a positive.”

Perry also talked up the atmosphere that would be generated by the big crowd at North Sydney.

Lord’s sold out earlier this year for the women’s World Cup final between England and India, while Bradman Foundation honouree Belinda Clark last week recalled how Australia won the 1997 World Cup at Eden Gardens in front of 70,000 fans.

More than 40,000 fans attended the double-header at the MCG in February when Perry and the Australians played a T20 international as a curtain-raiser to the mens’ game against Sri Lanka, but Friday’s numbers will be unheard of for a stand-alone game.

Around 4000 fans watched Perry blast an unbeaten 213 in the Test last weekend that ended in a draw.

Perry was underwhelmed by Mitch Starc’s growth. (Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Perry helped raise awareness for Movember where she will be doing her bit by completing 500 chin-ups for the month.

“I’ve got some wonderful men in my life who are very important to me, and so are their health’’, she said.

She said it was always fun to see some of our cricketers with moustaches.

“He’ll kill me for saying this, but Mitchell Starc’s endeavours, whilst gallant, probably fall short sometimes,’’ Perry said.

Originally published as Australia v England women’s T20: Ellyse Perry and North Sydney flat deck could see 6000 fans at Pom clash