Australian star wary of ‘the Kiwi way’
You might think that there wouldn’t be much to the trans-tasman women’s cricket rivalry, with Australia winning 17 of their 21 matches against the White Ferns in the last five years.
But star all-rounder Ellyse Perry believes that there’s always something special about it, even though her side has tended to dominate proceedings more often than not.
‘‘Any time you take the field against New Zealand, regardless of the context, it feels like a super challenge,’’ she said this week, after completing a two-week stay in managed isolation ahead of tomorrow’s Twenty20 series opener in Hamilton.
‘‘There’s obviously incredible history between our two teams and also our two countries as well, in terms of the rivalry that we have from a sporting perspective.
‘‘Such is the Kiwi way – you’re always incredible competitive and fighters, and I’ve experienced that over the course of my career.’’
Tomorrow’s match at Seddon
Park is set to be Perry’s first for Australia since the T20 World Cup on home soil last March, where she suffered a hamstring injury in a win over the White Ferns in pool play that ultimately required surgery and a six-month layoff.
A smaller hamstring strain ruled her out of the series between the two teams in Brisbane last September and October – Australia’s only action since the World Cup – but after playing in the Women’s Big Bash League for the Sydney Sixers and the Women’s National Cricket League for New South Wales, she’s raring to go.
What: White Ferns v Australia, T20 international series
■ Tomorrow, 7.10pm: 1st T20 at Seddon Park, Hamilton
■ Tuesday, March 30, 3pm: 2nd T20 at Mclean Park, Napier
■ Thursday, April 1, 3pm: 3rd T20 at Eden Park, Auckland
‘‘It’s probably taken me the best part of 12 months to feel like I’m back to full playing fitness and performance levels in terms of just recovering from my hamstring and just not playing a lot of cricket,’’
Perry said. ‘‘By no means was I close during the WBBL to where I was before I got injured, and it’s probably still a bit of a work in progress.’’
Australia will leave managed isolation today and play tomorrow – at 7.10pm, after the Black Caps’ first T20 against Bangladesh – and Perry said they had been warned by their male counterparts, who went down 3-2 in their five-match series earlier this month, that they might need some time to adjust.
‘‘Some of the mail we got from the men’s team was that when they came over here adjusting to the pace of a match again after being in quarantine for two weeks and just training was probably the biggest shock for them.
‘‘So that’s something to be aware of, just making sure we step up from training to competition again, and we are not on our heels from the getgo.’’
The White Ferns are coming into the T20 series after being swept by England at the start of the month, but they did beat Australia in a dead rubber in their last meeting in September, bringing a 13-match losing streak against them across all formats to a halt.