One of the biggest concerns revolving around Aussie cricketing circles is the comeback of the premier Ellyse Perry. She, as per recent reports, is eying a comeback in the opening T20I against New Zealand. She, however, remains realistic at her chances of playing all six ODIS and T20Is.
It has to be noted that Perry was severely injured in the final group match of the T20 World Cup, she got her hamstring injury while playing against New Zealand.
She has, however, undergone her recovery in the times of pandemic. In the last five weeks, she has been battling and bowling without any issue. Nonetheless, there are doubts with regard to the demands of the match condition and the intensity of international cricket. Perry has stated that she won’t participate in the game until she feels that she can give her best.
She says that “My preference is to play as an allrounder, that’s who I am and it has always been my role. I don’t want to upset the dynamics of the group if I can help it because it gives us different options when I’m playing as an allrounder, but that’s a call we’ll make in the next couple of weeks”.
The current tenure marks six months since the women have seen any form of international women’s cricket, barring Austria and Germany T20I series. There has been no cricket since the T20 World Cup Final. Nevertheless, the New Zealand series will initiate workloads for the players as WBBL is round the corner as well.
Perry added that “Across the series with both the T20 and one-dayers then looking ahead to the WBBL, I’m sure they’ll be some considerations around managing [workload], making sure I play the vast majority of cricket and we don’t go too hard, too soon,” she said.
“It’s just about making sure that we cover all bases before I play again”.
On the postponement of the world cup, Perry says that while shifting the game for later years is sad but at the same, it gives the opportunity for the side to have new faces in the setting. The squad can be bigger than the normal times. New faces have chances to try their hands at the highest level of the professional cricketing arena. On Tuesday last week, Australia announced a new participation program for Women Cricketers.
It was supposed to capture the momentum gained by women’s cricket with the World Cup. Perry commented that “While it’s been a really tricky time for every sports organization I don’t think that’s meant we’ve taken a back seat in any sense, in fact, some of the work CA and Australian Cricketers’ Association have done around female involvement and development shows it’s very much a priority”.
It will be interesting to see how Perry will make a comeback considering her stature as one of the best all-rounders of the globe.
News Source: Andrew McGlashan / ESPN Cricinfo
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