Ellyse Perry has been working overtime on her game
ELLYSE Perry is the number one batter and all-rounder in one-day cricket, but she spent the off-season working closely with her coaches to go to another level.
Women's sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Women's sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THE sign of a great athlete is someone who is always pushing for more.
Ellyse Perry has two Belinda Clark Medals and is the number one batter and all-rounder in one-day cricket, but she spent the off-season working closely with her coaches to go to another level.
She knows she has more to give and can still take her game to be even better.
“She’s added a lot of power, she practised sweep shots, reverse sweeps, all sorts of stuff to try to make her an even better player,” said Australia coach Matthew Mott.
“She’s one of those players who bowls a lot of balls, hits a lot of balls, but is never just doing it for the sake of it.
“That’s really exciting for us as a coaching group because you love working with those players. They have a clear goal and they’re very self driven.”
The Australian team opens its World T20 campaign against Pakistan on early Saturday November 10 (Australian time) after having swept through the same team 3-0 this week in preparation for the tournament.
The domination backed on to their 3-0 win against New Zealand last month and they did so with Perry only coming to the crease once in six matches.
It’s part of Perry’s evolution within the Aussie T20 side as she has shifted down the order to be one of the last recognised batters to come in.
When she does make it to the middle, she has greater licence to go after her shots.
“For me it certainly is evolving my game a bit, particularly from a batting point of view and just being a little bit more, I suppose, dynamic from the get-go and be able to play expansive roles when I need to and really take the game on,” Perry said.
“It’s been a really good challenge for me for the last couple of years and it kind of fits in with the game plan we have as a team as well.”
That plan involves defined roles for each player — an understanding of exactly what is expected from each them throughout the course of a match.
It’s been a change not just for Perry, but for other big-name players as well.
They’ve taken it on wholeheartedly with the goal of bringing home the World Cup.
“Her (Perry) role is more in the middle order and traditionally your best players bat one, two or three, but we’ve really tried to simplify things into our best fit for certain roles in the game,” Mott said.
“The way that not just Pez, but all the middle order players — Rach (Haynes) and even Meg (Lanning) has batted at five — they’ve embraced those roles, which I think has been key to our turnaround in T20 cricket.”
While Perry’s time in the middle in T20 has been limited recently, Mott is confident she will fire when needed in the West Indies.
“She knows exactly where she wants to take her game,” he said.
“Unfortunately the Australian crowds didn’t get to see it, but those who have been around the team and around the nets and see how hard she’s hitting the ball and the areas she’s hitting the ball just can’t wait to see that come off.”
Every ODI and T20I ad-break free during play only on FOX CRICKET this November. Get Sport HD + Entertainment with no lock in contract and no iQ4 set up costs. Get Foxtel Sport. T&C’s Apply
Originally published as Ellyse Perry has been working overtime on her game
Nailed it! Aussie women creating history at America’s Cup
Australian sailors in the first women’s America’s Cup are tapping into some famous inspiration for their history-making appearance in the famous regatta.
What Maxwell told Aussie star ahead of World Cup return
Sophie Molineux had visions of winning 18 World Cups before she retired. Injuries buried that plan before it got off the ground. But now she’s back – and armed with some inside info from Glenn Maxwell.