Perry still pepped up
A PRE-swimming carnival pep talk taught star Australian allrounder Ellyse Perry about perspective.
Perry has evolved as a player and a person in an 11-year international cricket career.
But the 28-year-old has never deviated from the message her mum Kathy taught her as a schoolkid.
“I’m sure I’ve changed in that time in certain aspects, but I’d like to think essentially I’m a similar person at heart, just older and wiser,” Perry said.
“My mum said this to me years ago when we were in the car going to a swimming carnival for school and I was so nervous — like crazy nervous and in a bit of a state — she was just like: ‘No one is going to remember tomorrow what you came in any race, it’s really just about you going out there and giving it your best shot and enjoying it for what it is. Whatever happens, happens.’
“It’s a little bit higher-stakes now, but I still feel like it’s not a bad thing to think about.”
Perry is enjoying every moment of the World T20 in the West Indies, but she desperately wants to bring the trophy home to Australia.
First the Australians must beat the West Indies in their semi-final tomorrow morning.
“We really want to play well, obviously, because it’s a World Cup,” Perry said.
“Looking further ahead to the T20 World Cup in 2020 in Australia, I just think being successful in this is a really great platform for us.”
Perry loves cricket as much as she did when she made her debut for her country as a 16year-old. There were no contracts for female players then. Now Australia’s female cricketers are the best paid in the world.
“It’s been a really fun 11 years, included in that is the evolution of the sport, that’s been one of the most amazing and satisfying things to be a part of,” said Perry, a dual international who also represented Australia at the 2011 soccer World Cup.
Perry used to be the person who opened the batting and the bowling, the classic best player in the team.
She’s morphed into a new classic in modern sports — the role player. Against India in the team’s only loss in the Guyana pool games she came in at No.6 and made an unbeaten 39 off 28 balls. Earlier, she bowled her first ball in the eighth over and took 3-16.
“I think it says that we’ve got an incredibly talented group of players, all who are pushing each other to be better,” she said.
Perry is married to Wallaby Matt Toomua, who will play England at Twickenham on Sunday — the same day as the World T20 final.
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