Ellyse Perry has entered that rare territory occupied by the superstars of sport where a new record seems to tumble for every season they excel in their extraordinary careers.
So it will prove again on Saturday night when Perry posts another mark without parallel in Australian cricket, in what is a crucial T20 clash against India in Adelaide after the Aussies’ success in Canberra on Thursday.
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The champion all-rounder will become the first Australian woman to play 350 international games across all formats in the deciding T20 encounter of the multifaceted series.
It is another testament to the enduring excellence of a phenomenon who became the youngest ever Australian cricketer to play international cricket when debuting against New Zealand aged 16 in 2007.
She was yet to play a senior game but Australian selectors knew they had the rarest of talents on their hands — and also a fight to hold on to her given her prowess in soccer.
Perry, who took two wickets and made 19 on debut in the match in Darwin, made her national debut in soccer not long after and played 18 matches for the Australian Matildas before swinging her attention fully to cricket in 2016.
Considered one of the greatest cricketers ever, Perry is a three-time ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year and also a triple Belinda Clark Award winner as Australia’s best performed player. And she continues to excel.
Earlier this season, Perry spoke with foxsports.com.au in an extended interview in Brisbane to discuss her approach to cricket in her 30s, her status as a role model and the rising power of India in women’s cricket.
“In some respects, I lack a bit of comprehension of what’s panned out in the last 20 years or so, besides just this overall sense of gratefulness,” she said.
“I (feel like I have enjoyed) sheer fortune, that it just contrived from when I was born and the time and the opportunities that I got at different points in my career have panned out the way they have.
“At the same time, probably, I have had the most amazing support from my parents and my broader family, and also just all the people on the way that have been willing to help out in one way or another. I just feel really lucky and so I suppose you pinch yourself, but it’s also hard to comprehend why all of that’s come my way.”
LIFE AS A CRICKETER IN THEIR MID-30s
Next year will mark two decades since Perry’s international debut and while she has dealt with injuries at different stages, including the record-breaking T20 World Cup final held at the MCG in 2020, she remains a force.
Her resume is far more detailed than solely the 350 games she has played for Australia, for the all-rounder also has a sensational domestic record along with being a fixture in the WPL and, more recently, The Hundred in the United Kingdom.
Her childhood mate Alyssa Healy will retire after the Test against India at the WACA next month, with the former Aussie captain citing injury struggles among the reasons for saying goodbye.
But Perry, 35, said that while things have changed since she earned a spot as one of Wisden’s five cricketers for the decade between 2010 and 2019, the way she has approached cricket has helped her longevity.
“I don’t think things change in terms of having to do more. I think you probably just naturally evolve and do things differently as time goes by,” she told Fox Cricket.
“But perhaps if you’re doing the same thing as you were doing in your 20s, then you might not be in a position to still be playing. But I think I’ve always been really curious about that, about the whole scope of preparation and physical performance and wellbeing.
“Part of it is just a lifestyle, as well, that I feel really fortunate to have. Not many people get to train for their job, so I love doing that. I suppose it’s changed a lot for me in terms of what I do, but I don’t think you do more or less.”
Sports captain at Pymble Ladies College while representing Australia in soccer and cricket, Perry studied an economics and social science degree at the University of Sydney after finishing school.
Asked whether she had ever contemplated when she might put that degree to use, the Aussie star said a beauty of her elongated career is that it has served as an ongoing education.
“I probably just think … there’s always a capacity to learn more and be open to all different kinds of learning,” she said.
“There’s obviously very traditional forms, but particularly in this kind of job, if you can call it a job, there’s so many different things and places and people that you’re exposed to that teach you a lot. And a lot of that isn’t formal. Some of it is, but a lot of it isn’t.
“And I think so long as you (have) got the curiosity and capacity to keep rewriting what you believe in, or knowing that you don’t have all the answers, there’s a chance to learn anywhere, regardless of whether that’s a formal degree or just being in life. Not that I’m sure I’ve got any wisdom.”
The interactions with peers from other parts of the world is part of the reason she has found competing internationally, be it for Australia or in competitions like the WPL and The Hundred, so rewarding.
“You kind of just learn about the human, firstly. It’s amazing what you can just take from that and the conversations that you have with people from different backgrounds,” she said.
“Playing international cricket for a long period of time and being in the Australian team, like in some form or another, you’ve got a similar background. Whereas, I guess, playing with international players from other parts of the world, like they’ve got very different upbringings, or they’ve arrived at the same point in a really different way. So I think that’s really cool.
“Equally, just playing with different coaches as well, some who have been international coaches, just to get their feel in the game and how they view things has always been really awesome.”
Perry hits 4000th run, Voll makes 100! | 01:11
SETTING AN EXAMPLE
By virtue of her sustained excellence, and as a result of being a core member of an extraordinarily successful team, Perry has been an inspiration to younger cricketers.
When discussing the rise of recent Belinda Clark Award winner Annabel Sutherland, Healy pointed to the example set by her great mate Perry as pivotal to her emergence.
“I think the sky is the limit for Annabel at this point in time. I think what she has been able to achieve at such a young age in the international arena is quite remarkable,” Healy said.
“Learning off one of the best all-rounders in the game as well — Ellyse Perry’s longevity in the game is a great learning for some of the younger girls in terms of how to approach it, how to go about it, because being an all-rounder is tough work and being so good at what you do at both facets in particular, and maintaining that for a long career, is going to be hard, even for someone like ‘Belsy’.
“But she has great mentors around her and in the group (including Perry) to enable her to learn those valuable lessons. I think she is scary good.”
Sutherland honoured after historic ton | 06:58
When Healy’s assessment was put to her, a humble Perry downplayed any impact she might have had on the new-generation star, saying Sutherland would have succeeded regardless given her talent.
If anything, the champion said, she was drawing energy and inspiration from the Victorian.
“Not necessarily, because I think Annabel, you know, regardless of who her role models were, was destined to be an incredible player in her own right, and she is a role model for lots of other young girls now and has done that very quickly and rapidly,” she said.
“(For me), it’s probably more just a sense of gratitude to have had all the experiences that I’ve had over such a long period of time, and then the interactions have come with that in terms of new players, that come through younger players.
“In so many respects, they’ve taught me more than I’ll ever impart on them, with the new energy that they bring in the way that they want to take the game forward, and I think the influences that they’ve kind of brought into the team (are) things that I never would have considered. So from that perspective, yeah, I don’t know, I’m probably more grateful for their influence than anything.”
THE RISE OF INDIA
Barring an extraordinary performance from India in late October, Perry could well be celebrating a ninth World Cup title with her Australian teammates.
She batted superbly alongside Phoebe Litchfield and Ash Gardner in a semi-final in Mumbai, with her 77 helping the Aussies to a total of 338 in 49.5 overs, only for the hosts to launch an extraordinary run chase to prevail before thrashing South Africa in the final.
Eight titles will have to do, at least until the T20 World Cup in England midway through this year.
That set the tone for the summer to come and the two nations arrived in Adelaide with the T20 segment of the series squared at 1-all, after India’s success in a rain-marred match in Sydney prior to Georgia Voll’s stunning performance in Canberra.
Australia whitewashed England in the Ashes last summer but Perry was well aware that India was always going to present a far stronger challenge in a series that continues with ODI matches next week prior to the Test at the WACA in early March.
“It’s a very strong rivalry,” she said.
“I think they’re different (the Ashes and India series) and they’ve got different contexts and probably steeped in different traditions. But I sort of feel like India, in a way, has been a bit of a sleeping giant in women’s cricket.
“It’s such a big sport in India, obviously. But also, I think the resources and the capacity they have had in the last little bit to continue to grow and grow so rapidly (is interesting). In the first year of the WPL, just the way that was put together, all of a sudden the broadcast numbers that we’re talking about and the amount of people tuning in to watch, it’s almost like things (were) supercharged.
“I feel like that’s almost happened with our rivalry as well. It’s gone from not really being a strong one to (almost) overnight just being this intensely fought contest between the two sides. It is the modern era of women’s cricket for us in India and I’m sure that is going to continue to grow over the years.”
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