Perry's elevation a hit for Southern Stars

The Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars went to Ireland with the goal of fine-tuning their Twenty20 game ahead of the crucial final stage of the Women’s Ashes.

After solid if not entirely comprehensive wins in the first two matches, the Stars found another gear on Saturday – and seemingly uncovered yet another of Ellyse Perry’s many talents in the process.

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Following the second T20 offspinner Erin Osborne commented the Ireland bowling attack had been making life hard for Australia’s top order batters.

In those two games, the opening pair of Elyse Villani and Jess Jonassen produced partnerships of 12 and 16.

With Delissa Kimmince – the other batter to open alongside Villani in the 20-over format in recent times – ruled out of the Ashes with a lower back injury, the Stars looked to test a new opening combination in the third match, with skipper Meg Lanning turning to her all-purpose solution in superstar allrounder Perry.

Watch the highlights of Australia's win (Aus only)

Perry had never opened the batting for Australia in any format but took to the position like a duck to water, playing an anchoring role while Villani plundered runs at the other end before going on to notch her first T20 half-century.

“Obviously Perry and Jonassen are pretty different batters, JJ is more explosive while Pez works the ball around, particularly early in the innings,” Villani said.

“I went in with a similar mindset as I always do, I’m fortunate that everyone in the team is really great to bat with so I wasn’t fussed about who I open with.”

Villani, whose 80 off 52 was her highest score of the tour to date, said she was pleased Australia had been able to put together three winning performances ahead of the T20 portion of the multi-format Women’s Ashes.

“It’s been nice to continue preparing in similar conditions,” she said,

“I felt like I was on from early on in my innings today, so it was nice to capitalise on that.

“I felt like I’ve been hitting the ball well in practice and in games, but I haven’t been able to go on with it, so it’s nice to do that finally during the series.”

The Ireland series also uncovered another talent – that of Queensland allrounder Grace Harris.

The 21-year-old was called into the squad to cover for the injured Kimmince and admitted to being nervous ahead of her international debut, but those nerves quickly evaporated.

She produced unbeaten knocks of 39no and 19no and took three wickets in the three T20s to be named player of the series.

The Southern Stars are tantalisingly close to reclaiming the Women’s Ashes, needing to win just one of their three T20s against England to cement an unassailable lead in the points-based series.

“As typical as it might sound, we always just take it one game at a time and just focus on our own performances,” Villani said.

“We don’t worry too much about our opposition or where the game puts us in the series.

“We’re keeping it simple and fingers crossed we can get over the line as soon as possible.”