NICK FRIEND: The biggest stages warrant the best players, and the 29-year-old allrounder heads that list. You'd need the stoniest of hearts not to sympathise with Australia, with Perry and with all that she represents
Let’s face it, it sucks. The news that Ellyse Perry will play no further part in the T20 World Cup seemed almost inevitable the moment she hobbled to the ground, clutching her troublesome hamstring.
It all happened so quickly. Sophie Devine pushed to mid-off and burst out of her crease. Perry, sensing her own opportunity, sprung into action. It was a clutch moment within a winner-takes-all clash – very possibly the most significant women’s game hosted on Australian soil for some time. Win and the MCG dream lives on; lose and it’s all over. The weather may take all that out of their hands, but the hosts are – at least – part of the equation.
There are few out there who are tougher than Perry. For a time, she juggled two separate disciplines at international level. The footage of a 30-yard screamer in a World Cup quarter-final against Sweden lives on.
When Australia take to the field against South Africa at the SCG on Thursday, it will mark the first time that she has missed a game in the history of this competition – a run that stretches to 36 games, 11 years and seven editions. In a sense, this had to come at some stage; she was a doubt for the New Zealand encounter as she nursed shoulder and hip complaints, as well as a toe problem.
Speaking after her side’s four-run defeat, however, Devine admitted that she had never for a moment expected Perry to miss out.
“We know what she brings to the women's game,” she said. “And people were saying she might not play this game. I didn't have any doubts that she was going to play. She'd have her leg amputated for her not to take the field. It looked like she nearly did snap her leg off.
“I really hope she has a speedy recovery whatever injury she sustained. It's a real blow for the women's game. I know it definitely will be for Australia, but the world loses out on a great player.”
The biggest stages warrant the best characters, and the 29-year-old allrounder heads that list. Few sports possess as little argument over the identities of their greatest ever players.
For women’s cricket, it is simple. Perry has long been the poster figure for the women’s game in Australia and, in truth, far further afield than that.
“We see what an unbelievable allrounder she is, and the greatest female player we’re ever going to see,” Charlotte Edwards enthused last year.
“The role that the women’s players like Ellyse Perry and Alyssa Healy have as high-profile cricketers is on a par with some of the bigger-name men’s cricketers,” Alistair Dobson, head of Big Bash leagues, told The Cricketer ahead of the WBBL’s most recent edition.
“That comes with both of them being absolute quality cricketers, but also how engaging they are as people and as athletes and their ability to connect so authentically with kids. It has made them really popular. They certainly create such a visible, aspirational pathway that has been a big player in the growth of girls playing cricket.”
Perry will miss the remainder of the tournament with "a high-grade hamstring injury"
An Australian team without her, therefore, will be an unusual sight. Perry has missed just 13 T20Is since she made her international bow in the format in 2008; she has played 120 of 133 since. It is some record for a prime athlete, so prominent with both bat and ball.
The last time she missed a game of any kind for Australia was in 2017, again through a torn hamstring – an injury she suffered while lunging unsuccessfully to return to her crease as she was stumped in a game against Melbourne Renegades. Then, she was kept out of three T20Is and a single ODI against New Zealand.
Her value is such that Australia have decided against calling up a replacement: quite simply, how do you even contemplate replacing Perry? It is a conundrum that head coach Matthew Mott has rarely had to consider.
“I'm devastated for her personally,” Mott said. “She would have spent the last year getting her head around trying to perform for this World Cup. Credit to her, she is a gutsy player. She's processed it well, but she's going to go through some tough times over the next few weeks.
“We’ll try and support her as much as we can, for any athlete it's incredibly heartbreaking when something like that happens around a major tournament.
“But she has played a lot of cricket and has a lot left in front of her.”
He added: “She will definitely have a part to play. Her experience around World Cups and the person that she is, she is already a real strong leader in our group. I think she will take that up a level.
“She will be a big part of our bowling planning meetings – which she already is, but she will take a lot of responsibility for that. I think she will relish that, being busy and being helpful where she can.”
Perry scored just 26 runs in the group stages
Perry told The Cricketer in an exclusive interview last year: “I think that the things that you really hold onto are the successes that you have as a team.
“The World Cup wins we’ve had – especially the World T20 in the West Indies last year, you really remember them and they are truly special. The other stuff [personal records] – and I’m not trying to deflect it, but they’re not really a motivating factor for me.”
She will, you sense, be the perfect presence – an added motivation to her teammates and a peerless icon in the dugout for others to fear. Even when she’s not there, she’ll be there.
The question, then, is of where Australia go from here. It seems almost absurd to suggest that any side could cope in these circumstances without being significantly weakened. Yet, Meg Lanning’s outfit might just sit as an exception to the rule.
Perversely, perhaps, it is in this format where Perry’s influence is at its least – or certainly where the qualities of others come to the fore – Ashleigh Gardner’s burgeoning ability with the bat has made Perry’s role more fluid than it once was.
She made just 26 runs in the group phase, with 21 of them coming against New Zealand, facing just 20 deliveries across those four games, batting at No.5, No.6 and No.7.
Nicola Carey was pushed ahead of her in the batting lineup against Sri Lanka on account of her left-handedness, while she took just a single wicket in 12 overs. Her economy rate did not suffer, though; she conceded her runs at just 5.41 per over.
Annabel Sutherland could continue a fairytale rise in Perry's absence
Australia will obviously miss her; that much goes without saying, but possibly not as much as in other formats, where she has been so peerless. Yet, it makes the forthcoming dilemma more intriguing.
Molly Strano and Delissa Kimmince have both featured at various points in the tournament, while Sophie Molineux and Erin Burns are awaiting their first opportunities.
Against New Zealand, neither Annabel Sutherland nor Jess Jonassen even came to the crease, despite being five wickets down. And although Gardner and Nicola Carey were expensive with the ball, Sutherland was still not required.
It serves to highlight the depth of this Australia side – even without Perry. Kimmince might just be the favourite to slot in, unless Mott and Lanning plump for a fourth spin option alongside Jonassen, Gardner and Georgia Wareham. That, though, would seem unlikely.
Jonassen made 419 runs in last season’s WBBL, while Sutherland has been talked up by none other than Perry herself – “I think she could be one of the best we’ve ever produced,” she said.
“She's a wonderful athlete. She's got a great build; she bowls fast and into the wicket and is able to swing it. She's a very, very classy batter, plays essentially around the whole ground already.
“To think that she's only had such a small amount of experience at this level, but she already looks capable and comfortable.
“Time is only going to make her better. I'm really pumped that she's getting the opportunity when she is.”
Whoever steps in, they are mighty boots to fill.
Subscribe to The Cricketer for exclusive content every day: The inside track on England's Test tour with George Dobell in Pakistan, award-winning analysis, breaking news and interviews and the only place for in-depth county coverage all year round. Plus: An ad-free app experience at your fingertips. Subscribe to thecricketer.com today for just £1.
Welcome to www.thecricketer.com - the online home of the world’s oldest cricket magazine. Breaking news, interviews, opinion and cricket goodness from every corner of our beautiful sport, from village green to national arena.