Ellyse Perry
Ellyse Alexandra Perry is an Australian International cricketer and former soccer player. Having debuted for both the national cricket and national soccer team at the age of 16, she is the youngest Australian to play international cricket and the first to appear in both ICC and FIFA World Cups. Gradually becoming a single-sport professional athlete from 2014 onward, Perry's acclaimed cricket career has continued to flourish and she is widely regarded to be one of the greatest female cricketers of all time.
A genuine all-rounder, Perry's mastery of both batting and fast bowling disciplines is reflected in several statistical achievements—she was the first player to amass a combined 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in T20Is, she holds the record for the highest score by an Australian woman in Test matches, and she was the third player to claim 150 wickets in women's ODIs. Her contribution to various successful teams at international and domestic level across cricket's primary formats has led to winning eight world championships with Australia, eleven WNCL championships with New South Wales, two WBBL titles with the Sydney Sixers, and one WPL title with Royal Challengers Bengaluru. She has also been recognised with numerous individual honours, such as winning the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award and the Belinda Clark Award three times each, and being named as one of the Wisden Five Cricketers of the Decade: 2010–19.
Due to her on-field performance, off-field marketability and stature as "the ultimate role model", Perry is credited as a leading figure for the rising female presence in Australia's sporting culture.
Early life
Perry was born at the Sydney Adventist Hospital and raised in the Hornsby Ku-ring-gai suburbs of Wahroonga and West Pymble, she attended Beecroft Primary School and Pymble Ladies' College. She was Sports, Athletics, and Cricket Captain at Pymble. During her school years, she played a range of sports beside cricket and soccer, such as tennis, athletics, touch football and golf. She became friends with future Australian teammate Alyssa Healy at the age of nine, and they played cricket together throughout childhood. Healy occasionally referred to her as "Dags" because of an ill-fitting uniform she wore at junior level, though Perry is more commonly known by the nickname "Pez".Soon after turning 16, Perry played cricket for New South Wales in an under-19 interstate tournament in January 2007. In three matches, she scored 74 runs and took three wickets. A month later, she was selected in the Australian youth team for a tour of New Zealand, playing against the hosts' second XI. She scored 43 runs at 21.50 and took one wicket at 100.00.
International cricket
2007–08: Debut in all three formats
Perry was fast-tracked into the Australian team for a series in July 2007 against New Zealand, despite having never played a match at senior level. She made her One Day International debut in Darwin on 22 July at the age of 16 years and 8 months, becoming the youngest-ever cricketer to represent Australia. Taking two wickets for 37 runs from eight overs, her first scalp was Maria Fahey, whom she bowled for 11. Then, batting down the order at nine, she made 19 from 20 balls before Australia were all out for 174 to lose by 35 runs.In her Twenty20 International debut at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against England on 1 February 2008, Perry "confirmed herself as a star for the future" through a "superb all-round performance" which included a late-innings knock of 29 not out from 25 balls before taking 4/20 off 4 overs to help Australia win by 21 runs. The breakthrough display, which also featured a skillful piece of fielding to execute a run out, sparked excitement around Perry's potential to join revered players, such as Keith Miller, in Australia's exclusive and illustrious club of legendary all-rounders.
In the 2007–08 Women's Ashes match at Bradman Oval in Bowral on 15 February, Perry became the youngest-ever Australian Test cricketer, debuting at the age of 17 years and 3 months. The hosts batted first and collapsed to 5/59 on the first day, bringing Perry to the crease to join Kate Blackwell. Perry made 21 from 77 balls before being run out, ending the highest partnership of the innings. The next day, she claimed her first Test wicket, removing England opener Caroline Atkins for 15 and finishing with 2/49 from 23 overs. She made just six runs in the second innings and took one more wicket for the match as the visitors went on to win by six wickets.
2009: First Cricket World Cup and World Twenty20 appearances
Perry made her first appearance at a major ICC tournament via the 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup on home soil. Her most substantial contribution came in a 47-run win against the West Indies, scoring 36 and taking 2/28 from ten overs to earn Player of the Match honours. Australia did not place in the top two positions of the Super Six stage and therefore failed to qualify for the final.Later that year, Perry was included in Australia's team for the inaugural Women's World Twenty20. They were defeated in the semi-finals by host nation England.
During the 2009–10 home summer, Perry enjoyed a highly effective Rose Bowl series against New Zealand, claiming 13 wickets at an average of 12.61 and taking her first five-wicket haul.
2010: First World Twenty20 title
Perry played an integral part in Australia's triumphant 2010 World Twenty20 campaign in the West Indies. Against India in the semi-finals, she took 1/19 in the first innings. At the start of the 17th over, a 57-run partnership between Harmanpreet Kaur and Poonam Raut came to an end when Perry, off her own bowling, ran out Kaur. Two balls later, Indian captain Jhulan Goswami was run out by Alex Blackwell. Perry then had Raut out caught from the next delivery to fully turn the momentum of the match, with India losing 3/1 in the space of four balls. Australia went on to win by seven wickets with seven balls to spare.In the final against New Zealand, defending a target of just 106, Perry dismissed Suzie Bates in the sixth over for 18. In the eighth over, she uprooted Amy Satterthwaite's off-stump with a ball that kept low, putting the Kiwis in trouble at 4/29. In the 18th over, Perry had Nicola Browne caught behind for 20 before returning to bowl the final over. Requiring five runs from the last delivery to win, Sophie Devine struck a powerful straight drive back down the pitch. Perry instinctively stuck out her right foot, deflecting the ball to a fielder at mid-on and preventing a boundary, securing a three-run victory and Australia's first T20 world championship title. Perry ended with bowling figures of 3/18 and was named Player of the Final. In a retrospective interview, teammate Alyssa Healy described Perry's match-saving play as "probably some of the more iconic footage we've seen over the last ten-to-fifteen years in the women's game".
2011–12: Second-straight World Twenty20 title
In the only Test of the 2010–11 Women's Ashes, Perry claimed first innings bowling figures of 4/56, helping Australia in a seven-wicket victory to snatch the trophy out of English hands for the first time in six years.At the 2012 World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, Perry delivered a Player of the Match performance during a 28-run semi-final win against the West Indies, claiming crucial top-order wickets of Stafanie Taylor and Deandra Dottin to finish with figures of 2/19 off four overs. In the final, she managed to take 1/24 off four overs as Australia held on to win by four runs against England to claim a second-consecutive World T20 title.
2013: Cricket World Cup success
The 2013 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup in India saw Perry miss three matches due to an ankle injury. In the final against the West Indies, after repeated unsuccessful attempts to make it through her delivery stride, she bowled her full allotment of ten overs and took 3/19 to help Australia win by 114 runs. The apparent pain through which Perry performed earned her the moniker of "Australia's limping hero" and garnered plaudits for showing unbreakable spirit through adversity. Days after winning her first 50-over world championship, Perry underwent surgery to repair a fractured ankle.In the 2013–14 Women's Ashes, Perry was named Player of the Match in the only Test despite a 61-run victory going England's way. Top-scoring in both of Australia's innings with 71 and 31 while finishing with overall bowling figures of 8/79 from 42 overs, she "confirmed her status as a true all-rounder" in a see-sawing contest played amidst sweltering Perth temperatures of up to 44 degrees Celsius. Perry also excelled throughout the limited-overs fixtures, which included an unbeaten 90 off 95 to steer her team across the line by four wickets with three balls remaining in a one-dayer at Bellerive Oval. Due to the structure of the points system, England regained the Ashes, although Perry was nevertheless awarded Player of the Series.
2014–15: Third-consecutive World Twenty20 title
At the 2014 World Twenty20 in Bangladesh, Perry was named Player of the Match against South Africa for scoring 41 not out off 29 balls in a six-wicket victory. Australia would go on to "coast" to a third-straight T20 world championship, defeating England in the final where Perry took 2/13 off four overs before making 31 not out and hitting the winning runs with six wickets in hand.In the 2015 Women's Ashes, on English soil, Perry helped Australia regain the trophy with several outstanding performances which included bowling her side to victory on the last day of the only Test. She took 6/32 in the second innings and finished with overall match figures of 9/70 off 30 overs in the 161-run win. Leading both teams for runs scored and wickets taken across the seven-match schedule, Perry was once again named Player of the Series. In the match on 21 July, she passed the milestone of 1,000 runs in ODI cricket.