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Perry enjoys calm at home before storm

Ellyse Perry will sit out the English Super League this year, as she prepares for one of the busiest periods ever for the Aussie team

Ellyse Perry has collected plenty of frequent flyer points since she last played for Australia in March, but the star allrounder is now eyeing home comforts as she prepares for what looms as Australia's busiest ever period.

With an action-packed schedule looming for Australia between now and March 2020, Perry has decided to spend the remainder of the pre-season Down Under, electing not to play a third season with Loughborough Lightning in England's women's Super League.

"It's really nice to spend a bit of time back home, I haven't had a long preseason in Australia for a few years now," Perry told cricket.com.au.

"Every year the programs in state-land get more and more professional because we've got a group of girls who can train full-time now, so that will be really cool to spend time with them leading into our summer.

"It's always nice to be home and see family, too."

Since the end of the Commonwealth Bank Tour of India on March 31, Perry has bounced back and forth between Australia and the United Kingdom – where rugby-playing husband Matt Toomua is based in Leicester – while she's also managed to fit in a return trip to Mumbai for the Indian Premier League's women's exhibition match, as well as brief visits to China and France.


It's a list that's enough to make anyone feel jetlagged. By contrast, her Australian teammates have largely spent the colder months training with their states or at the Bupa National Cricket Centre in Brisbane.

"I love the travel, I feel really fortunate to have some experiences in different countries at the moment," Perry told cricket.com.au.

"It's nice spending time with Matt, we very much value that and I think it's – for the time being anyway – a really cool experience.

"I'm sure I'll get over it at some point, but for now splitting my time is really cool."


For Perry, it's part and parcel of a life based across two countries; she and Toomua even have a dog in each of their respective homes: Nae Nae in Sydney and Maggie in Leicester.

However, if recent reports linking Toomua with a contract with Melbourne Rebels are correct, the distance may not be an issue for much longer.

Should Toomua wind up playing at the Rebels next year, Sydney-based Perry – who is contracted to the Sixers until the end of 2019-20 – isn't ruling out a move to Victoria in 50-over state cricket, telling News Corp on Monday that it could "potentially change where I play my cricket".


But for now her attention is firmly fixed on Australia's next assignment: the three-match Commonwealth Bank T20I series against New Zealand beginning at North Sydney Oval on September 29.

The Southern Stars will then head overseas to play Pakistan at a yet-to-be-confirmed location, for a tour involving three T20s and three ODIs.

From there, they go straight to the Caribbean, where their World T20 campaign will begin in Guyana on November 9.


Should they make the final of that tournament on November 24, they'll have a quick turnaround for the opening weekend of the Rebel WBBL which, as confirmed on Monday, will begin at Junction Oval on December 1.

A second showdown against New Zealand will bookend the summer, with a three-match ODI series to be played in Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne from February 23 to March 3.

A further three bilateral series loom in 2019: a Caribbean return to face the West Indies before an Ashes campaign in the United Kingdom and home fixtures against Sri Lanka.

A WBBL season brought forward into October-November 2019 will lead into what's undoubtedly the biggest series of them all: a World T20 on home soil in February-March 2020.

It's a full-on schedule, but right now Perry is just focused on her preseason and on making several tweaks to her 20-over game.

"There are always opportunities to improve, mine are reasonably small things but I'm just trying to add scoring options, particularly with T20 being such a focus this year, so we've been doing a lot of sweeping and playing square of the wicket, which is pretty cool," she said.


"From a bowling perspective, I'm trying to add variation to be a bit more unpredictable, because when you've around for a while people know you.

"So you've always got to try and evolve a little each season, so they don't know exactly what you want to do."

Commonwealth Bank T20I series v NZ 

September 29: First T20I, North Sydney Oval, Sydney

October 1: Second T20I, Allan Border Field, Brisbane

October 5: Third T20I, Manuka Oval, Canberra

Commonwealth Bank ODI series v NZ 

February 22: First ODI, WACA Ground, Perth

February 24: Second ODI, Karen Rolton Oval, Adelaide

March 3: Third ODI, Junction Oval, Melbourne