Ellyse Perry, the great allrounder

30 Oct 2014 Dan Allan

Southern Star happy to keep evolving her role

Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars allrounder Ellyse Perry is used to being a lot of things to a lot of people.

To some she’s the tearaway quick that tore through the West Indies lineup in the 2013 ICC World Cup final despite, what would later be diagnosed as, a broken foot.

For others she’s the powerful middle-order batter that kept the Southern Stars’ Ashes hopes alive with an unbeaten 90 at Hobart earlier this year.

Quick Single: <a href="http://cricketa.us/1wbbuiS" target="_blank">Perry the new cricket prototype</a>

And for a completely different brand of sports fan altogether, she’s an international-calibre footballer that scored one of the goals of the tournament at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Even with all these varying public personas, or perhaps because of them, it’s Perry herself that sums her role up best.

“I’m probably an allrounder in the side,” the dual-international told cricket.com.au.

“It’s evolved a little bit over time.

“I sort of bowl towards the start of the innings, whether that’s opening or bowling first change, and then coming into the top or middle order.

“Our side has such wonderful balance and talent in it so it’s really nice to slot in wherever you’re needed.”

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But such versatility wasn’t always an option for Perry, with the 2012 and 2014 ICC World Twenty20 Team of the Tournament selection revealing her sole-discipline limitations throughout the junior ranks.

“I actually started out as a batter when I was really young because I was so short,” she said.

“I always did both (batting and bowling), because you learn both when you first start playing.

“But I was predominantly a batter from the age of 10 to about 13 or 14 and I had quite a growth spurt and bowling became a little bit easier for me.”

For someone who launched her international career at 16, as a medium-fast bowler no less, that is an incredibly rapid development.

Perry has had to add another string to her bow recently, with the 23-year-old taking over the captaincy of a Cricket Australia XI that took on the highly-fancied West Indies in a pre-international series tour game.

Cricket.com.au caught up with Perry ahead of the two warm-up matches and, despite the added responsibility, the Sydney product said she was looking forward to the extra responsibility.

“I’m really looking forward to the experience actually,” she said.

“I haven’t done too much in the way of captaincy for the last five or six years so I think it will probably be a fun little couple of games to go out and do that.

“I’ve played them (the West Indies) quite a bit over the last few years.

“They’re a really different side to play compared to other cricket teams because they’re so athletic and powerful and play a very dominant style of cricket that’s quite imposing.

“I think from that point of view it will be a really great challenge for everyone in the CA XI and then obviously moving forward to the international series with the Southern Stars.

“It’s going to be really tough, and I think with the stage we’re playing on too – playing a few curtain raisers to the men’s matches over the summer (it) is really great. It’s an exciting series.”