Perry on track as Aussies target Lord’s World Cup dream
Ian Chadband |
Ellyse Perry, the queen of Australian cricket, is set to grace another World Cup final as Australia’s women cricketers attempt to regain their familiar position as the best in the business in the global T20 final at Lord’s.
The showdown with hosts England in front of a 30,000 packed house at the home of cricket has the potential to be one of the great days in women’s cricket, and there’s been much speculation over whether the injured 35-year-old Perry, who’s played in all 10 editions of the T20 World Cup, will feature again.
Australia coach Shelley Nitschke hinted Australia could play the six-time winner on Sunday (Monday AEST), even if she’s not fully fit, after the quadricep ‘awareness’ scare that forced Perry to retire after facing just seven deliveries against the West Indies in Thursday’s semi-final.
But though Perry seemed to emerge from a second day of training at Lord’s unscathed, captain Sophie Molineux was giving nothing away to old rivals England, as she seemed to suggest the allrounder might be restricted to just a batting role.
“Ellyse trained really well, had a good bat, had a good bowl, she will field as well,” said Molineux.
“We will assess tomorrow, see how she pulls up before we make any decisions.
“It would be great if she can bowl for us, but at the same time with our bowling depth, we feel like we have got cover there.
“Her T20 World Cup so far with the bat, she has been incredible and has won us a couple of games. Even if she is not bowling, it will be a massive positive for us.”
Something has to give in the clash of the tournament’s two unbeaten sides in the tournament with Australia, defeated in the semi-finals of the last T20 and ODI World Cups, having looked particularly imperious in winning all their six matches.
Back in a world final for the first time since 2023, when they won the T20 title in South Africa, Sophie Molineux’s side are itching to return to the winners’ circle again after a rare three-year drought and a rebuilding of the side.
They start as warm favourites again, after beating England in a warm-up match and while protecting an extraordinary record of having won all six white-ball World Cup finals against England, while also claiming a 16-0 whitewash win in the last Ashes series 18 months ago.
Molineux says the team, having regrouped after their last T20 World Cup semi-final defeat two years ago, would see the tournament as a huge success regardless of the result on Sunday.
“The girls have played with freedom, they have been brave. We have played a really amazing team game of cricket, we can take so much away from this tournament,” she said.
“In terms of legacy, if we get over the line tomorrow, that will only add to that.”
For Molineux, personally, after taking the reins from retired Alyssa Healy, it would be a huge and emotional personal triumph.
As a kid, she had always wanted to watch a Test match at Lord’s with her dad — but she can’t help laughing that leading Australia out on to the field as captain in a World Cup final with her father watching from the stands rather eclipses that.
“It is really special,” said the 28-year-old skipper.
“I grew up watching Test cricket with my dad, and I said to him 15 years ago, I wanted to watch a Test match at Lord’s. Who would have thought we would be running out and playing a World Cup final here in front of a packed crowd?
“For us, Lord’s is the home of cricket, and it is going to be a really special occasion.”
But home skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt is adamant there’s no scarring in the England camp after so many defeats by the old enemy.
“Our team has come a long way since that Ashes tour and there’s not really been any talk about the Ashes or proving people wrong from that,” said Sciver-Brunt.
“We’re under no illusion that it’s going to be a really tough game. Against Australia, finals like that don’t come around that often, so we’ll be relishing the challenge.”
AAP