Australia news – Ellyse Perry’s career a story of evolution as another milestone approaches

“If you don’t change and evolve, then you’re probably not going anywhere,” Perry said recently. “And I feel like that was the greatest joy of my career.”

And she will do so after one of the biggest career developments in the game’s history, having debuted as a 16-year-old multi-sport prodigy in 2007.

Until as recently as the 2013 ODI World Cup in India, Perry regularly took the new ball for Australia while regularly batting as low as no. 9 batted.

Fast forward 12 years to last year’s World Cup in the same country, and Perry averaged 35 batting at No.3 and not bowling a ball.

“I like not necessarily being the same person or the same player for long periods of time,” 35-year-old Perry told AAP. “I loved doing both skills, I grew up playing club cricket bat and bowl. And when I went to the nets with dad I always had a bat and a bowler.

“All those different periods and opportunities to grow and change in between were what made it so fulfilling and gave me so much motivation.”

Perry often notes the rapid rise of the women’s game throughout her career, but the shift in her own cricket has been much more gradual.

Even further, his game has had to change, significantly increasing the lead in T20 cricket to go from falling in 2022 to above 130 in recent years.

In some ways, Perry’s entry into international cricket as a bowler batting at number 9 was a false economy. As a junior, she was a genuine all-rounder, before having to bide her time in the tail as a high school kid who made the Australian team.

“I never found it strange. In some ways, batting is probably a more mature skill set,” Perry said. “You have to learn so much about yourself and how you actually handle yourself out there in the middle when you have that helmet on and it’s just you out there.

“You learn how to deal with all the thoughts and emotions that come with it, as well as the circumstances of the game and what to do from here.”

As for when it happened for Perry?

“I don’t think there is one specific moment,” she said. “It’s almost this gradual creep where you feel like it. So it’s not even a conscious shift.

“It’s just backed up by consistency and results, and you have a bit of a blueprint of who you are as a batsman and how you go out there.”

All of which begs the question, does Perry still see a future for herself bowling in international cricket, or has she come full circle as a batsman?

Perry has bowled just 33 overs for Australia across all formats in the past two years, last bowling her full allocation of overs in an international in 2020.

“I hope so,” she said. “I still spend a lot of time working on it and bowling at practice and trying to develop and develop as I do. It’s always been how I play cricket. I really enjoy both facets of the game. Until I stop playing, it’s something I always want to work on.”