Ellyse Perry

Some Lesser Known Facts About Ellyse Perry

• Ellyse Perry is an Australian sportsperson who is known for representing the country in both cricket and soccer. She is the first Australian to represent the country in the ICC and FIFA World Cups. Ellyse Perry is counted among the greatest cricketers in the world.

• She grew up in a family of sportspersons as her father is a former cricketer, her mother is a former swimmer, and her elder brother is a cricketer.

  

• Ellyse Perry was initially trained by her father, Mark, who played cricket and squash at representative level. According to Ellyse, she first developed an interest in cricket when she saw he father teaching her brother Damien to bowl.

  

• Before turning to cricket and soccer, she played a variety of sports including touch football, tennis, golf, and athletics.

• When Ellyse was nine years old, she became friends with Alyssa Healy who later became her teammate in the Australian national cricket team. Healy is the wife of Australian cricketer Mitchell Starc. While playing cricket together, Healy would often refer to Ellyse as “Dags” for her ill-fitting uniform.

  

• In January 2007, Ellyse, soon after turning 16, played cricket for New South Wales in an under-19 interstate tournament, scoring 74 runs and grabbing three wickets in three matches. A month later, she toured New Zealand along with the Australian youth team, where she scored 43 runs at 21.50 and took one wicket at 100.00 while playing against the hosts’ second XI.

• On 22 July 2007, Ellyse Perry, at the age of 16 years and 261 days, made her ODI debut against New Zealand in Darwin, making her the youngest-ever cricketer to play for Australia. She scored 19 runs and grabbed 2 wickets for 37 runs in her debut match. After the match, coach Lisa Keightley praised Perry’s performance and said,
  

  The selectors recognised Ellyse as a talent and she¿s showing everyone that here. She did all we could ask of her and had a really good game in her first international at 16. We couldn¿t ask for much more from a player of that age.” ^[9]BBC

• On 1 February 2008, she made her T20I debut against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, scoring 29 not out from 25 balls and grabbing 4 wickets for 20 runs in four overs. She also displayed an impressive performance in fielding, executing 1 run-out, leading her to join the illustrious club of legendary all-rounders.

  

• On 15 February 2008, at 17 years and 104 days, Ellyse Perry made her test debut in the Women’s Ashes match at Bradman Oval in Bowral, making her the youngest-ever Australian to play a Test for Australia. ^[10]The Sydney Morning Herald

  

• Ellyse played her first major ICC tournament in 2009 in the Women’s Cricket World Cup on home soil. In the same year, she represented Australia in the first Women’s World Twenty20.

• She took her first five-wicket haul during the 2009-10 Rose Bowl series against New Zealand; she claimed 13 wickets at an average of 12.61 in the series.

• In 2010, Ellyse played a significant role in Australia’s first World Twenty20 title win. In the final against New Zealand, she saved a last-ball boundary, leading Australia to win the title. With her impressive performance, she became the Player of the Final. While describing Perry’s performance, her teammate Alyssa Healy said,
  

  probably some of the more iconic footage we’ve seen over the last ten-to-fifteen years in the women’s game.” ^[11]Cricket Australia

• Ellyse’s performance also helped Australia claim a second-consecutive World T20 title in the 2012 World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka.

• In the 2013 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in India, Perry had to skip three matches as she suffered an ankle injury. She helped Australia win against West Indies in the final by taking 3 wickets for 19 runs in 10 overs, earning her the moniker of “Australia’s limping hero.” ^[12]ESPN

  

• She became Player of the Match in the 2013–14 Women’s Ashes, scoring 71 runs and 31 runs in the first and the second innings respectively.

• Ellyse Perry helped Australia win its third consecutive World Twenty20 title in the 2014 World Twenty20 in Bangladesh. In the final against England, Perry took 2 wickets for 13 runs in 4 overs and scored 31 not out, hitting the winning runs.

• Perry’s several outstanding performances led Australia to regain the Ashes trophy in the 2015 Women’s Ashes.

• During the 2017-18 Women’s Ashes, Perry scored 213 not out in the day-night Test at North Sydney Oval, setting the highest score record by an Australian in women’s Tests; it was her first international century. ^[13]Cricket Australia

  

• Perry’s performances led Australia to win its fourth World Twenty20 title at the 2018 World Twenty20 in the Caribbean, where she became the first Australian cricketer to play in 100 Twenty20 Internationals, and in the final against England, she became the first Australian to take 100 T20I wickets.

• On 24 February 2019, she scored her maiden ODI century while playing against New Zealand at Karen Rolton Oval; she scored an unbeaten 107 runs. ^[14]Cricket Australia

  

• On 7 July 2019, she grabbed 7 wickets for 22 runs at the St Lawrence Ground against England, recording the best bowling figures for an Australian in WODIs. ^[15]The Guardian

• On 28 July 2019, during the Women’s Ashes, she completed 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in T20Is, becoming the first player to achieve the feat.

• On 11 September 2019, in a match against the West Indies, she completed 150 wickets in WODI, becoming the third bowler to achieve the feat.

• In October 2021, in a test match against India, Perry scored 5,000 runs and took 300 wickets in international cricket, becoming the first woman to achieve the feat. ^[16]ANI

  

• With her impressive performances during the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, Australia won its sixth T20 World Cup title.

• During the 2007-08 season, she made her Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) debut for New South Wales against South Australia. Later, she won ten more WNCL championships while playing for New South Wales.

• In the 2018–19 final, after playing her 73rd and last game for New South Wales, Perry joined the WNCL team Victoria after she moved to Melbourne, where her husband had moved to play Super Rugby for the Melbourne Rebels. ^[17]The Sydney Morning Herald She also captained Victoria in the opening two matches of the 2021–22 season as Meg Lanning was absent.

• On 10 July 2015, Ellyse Perry became the first player to be signed by the Sydney Sixers at the launch of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL); she was also announced the captain of the team. On 21 October 2022, she became the first player to captain 100 WBBL games.

  

• In April 2016, she played for the Loughborough Lightning in the first season of the Women’s Cricket Super League in England.

• On 22 May 2018, Perry played for the Supernovas in the first Women’s T20 Challenge in Mumbai; it was an exhibition match and was considered a future female equivalent of the IPL. ^[18]News 18

• On 13 August 2021, she made her debut in the Hundreds while playing for the Birmingham Phoenix against the Welsh Fire at Sophia Gardens.

• During the auctions of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) in 2023, the Royal Challengers Bangalore signed Ellyse Perry for Rs. 1.7 crore.

  

• On 4 August 2007, 16 years and 9 months old Perry made her international football debut against Hong Kong at Hong Kong Stadium while playing for the Australian national soccer team and scored her first international goal in the second minute of the match. Her second international goal came in the 2008 AFC Women’s Asian Cup in a match against South Korea, while her third international goal came in the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup in a match against Sweden.

  

• On 13 December 2015, she played her last game in the W-League. In 2018, in an interview, Perry talked about becoming a single-sport athlete and said,
  

  Essentially, both sports have grown so much and developed so much in the last couple of years that they really demand people to be full-time professional athletes… I ended up in cricket and haven’t played any football recently. I truly enjoyed my time playing football.”

• Ellyse Perry is considered one of the most marketable athletes in Australia with endorsements including Adidas, Fox Sports, CommBank, Weet-Bix, Jockey, Hisense, L’Oréal, Red Bull, Microsoft, and Hublot.

  

• She often encourages women’s participation in sports and has penned a four-book series to encourage girls to follow their dreams. HarperCollins published her first non-fiction book titled Perspective in 2019.

  

• As a philanthropist, Ellyse Perry is associated with various organizations including the McGrath Foundation, the Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation, and the LBW (Learning for a Better World) Trust.

  

• She is a dog lover and often shares pictures of her pet dog on social media.

  

• In June 2010, she appeared as a host on the show Football Stars of Tomorrow on One HD.

• In 2011, she appeared as a recurring guest on the Triple J radio breakfast show with Tom Ballard and Alex Dyson, where she presented her segment Perry Good Sportswoman.

• In 2016, she authored a series of children’s books with Sherryl Clark in which they depicted the story of a young sport-loving girl during her Primary School and High School years.

• In August 2018, she was signed by Fox Sports for their Fox Cricket broadcast team.

• On 20 October 2019, Perry appeared as a guest panelist in the first episode of The Blast on Fox Cricket in which they discussed the women’s game.

• On 27 November 2019, a seven-part short-form documentary series titled Insight was premiered on Facebook Watch. The series showed a behind-the-scenes glimpse into her life.

• In December 2019, in a reprise of “C’mon Aussie C’mon,” Perry’s skills were described as “kind of scary.”