Perry’s all-round great
ELLYSE Perry could be the greatest all-rounder Test cricket has ever seen.
Perry rewrote the record books against England on Saturday, amassing the highest ever score by an Australian woman in a Test match as she finished on 213 not out.
Perry’s Ashes knock was also the third highest of any player in women’s Test history, the highest unbeaten total and the highest on Australian soil.
But, in reality, the runfest, which helped Australia to 9-448 declared, was just another step in the evolution of the 27-year-old as a cricketer. The unbeaten innings took her Test average to 61.71, the thirdhighest in the history of the women’s game.
With the ball she ranks 12th, at an equally impressive average of 16.76.
It leaves her as one of only two players in the history of the men’s or women’s game to sit inside the top 15 in both categories. The other is 1970s English female star Enid Bakewell.
Perry’s positive margin of 44.95 between her batting and bowling average is the biggest in the women’s game.