Injury woes continue for Ellyse Perry, may miss bowling duties against West Indies

Ellyse Perry. (Photo by Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images)

The West Indies are scheduled to play three T20Is followed by as many ODIs against Australia next month. The first couple of T20Is will be played in Sydney while the final game will be held in Brisbane.

Star allrounder Ellyse Perry injured her knee during Australia’s second ODI encounter versus Ireland in July. Owing to the injury, she missed the third and final ODI as well as the Women’s Hundred in England. The veteran is still recuperating from the injury. She has been named in Australia’s squad for the T20Is as well as the ODIs against the West Indies. However, the 32-year-old might play as a specialist batter and refrain from bowling in the white-ball series.

Perry played her first competitive match since the injury on Tuesday, September 26, for Victoria against Western Australia. She did not bowl in the one-day contest. The experienced campaigner shared an update on when she could start bowling again.

“Nothing’s wrong, it’s just building workloads back up again so I’m fully prepared for the summer. In terms of my full fitness, bowling will probably be something that I still work through across this series. It might mean that I’m not available to bowl until late in the piece or perhaps towards the start of the WBBL,” Perry was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

Taking a closer look at Ellyse Perry’s impeccable numbers in international cricket

Perry made her international debut in 2007 in an ODI encounter against New Zealand on July 22. She has represented Australia in 11 Tests, 135 ODIs, and 142 T20Is. In the red-ball format, Perry has scored 876 runs at a staggering average of 73 and has two centuries and four half-centuries to her name. In 109 ODI innings, she has amassed 3662 runs at an average of 50.86 and registered two tons and 32 fifties. The shortest format in international cricket has seen the Wahroonga-born scoring 1627 runs in 87 innings at an average of 31.28 and a strike rate of 114.09.

With the ball, Perry has picked up 38 wickets at 20.47 in Tests, 162 wickets at 25.24 in ODIs, and 123 wickets at 18.93 in T20Is. She has two five-wicket hauls in the purest format of the game and three in the 50-over format.