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Perry breaks WBBL runs record

Sixers skipper Ellyse Perry breaks record set by Meg Lanning in WBBL|01 as she continues her stunning season in magenta

Ellyse Perry has gone where no Rebel WBBL player has gone before, breaking the record for most runs scored in a single season.

Perry passed the previous high water mark of 560, set by Australian captain Meg Lanning while playing for the Melbourne Stars in WBBL|01, during her unbeaten knock of 80 from 54 deliveries in the Sydney Sixers’ clash with the Perth Scorchers at Lilac Hill on Sunday.

It took Perry just 12 matches to break the record, facing 438 balls in the process. She headed into Sunday's game needing 24 runs to pass Lanning, but the 28-year-old wasn't content there, smashing a further 56 runs and becoming the first WBBL player to score more than 600 runs in a single season in the process.  

With the Sixers on top of the ladder with two home-and-away matches remaining and potentially two finals matches to follow, the 28-year-old now has the 700-run mark in her sights.

Perry's ton carries Sixers to first win of WBBL|04

The record came perhaps a little later than some may have expected this season, given Perry’s ridiculous form early in the tournament that saw her rack up 419 runs in her first six innings, with scores of 58, 102 not out, 74no, 10, 72no and 103no.

But it always seemed inevitable the Australian allrounder would surpass Lanning’s record in WBBL|04 and scores of 2, 8, 48, 47 and 13 followed before she passed the magic 560-run mark in front of a spirited crowd in Perth.

It comes after she batted at No.7 through the recent T20 World Cup in the Caribbean, forced down the order by teammates who had been striking their own runs at superior rate to Perry across the 12 months prior.

She faced just 49 balls across the entire tournament – 28 of those coming during her defiant knock of 39no in a losing effort against India – and wasn’t required to bat at all in the final as Australia romped to an eight-wicket win over England.

Perry times ton to perfection

But she’s more than making up for it this season and while the volume of runs isn’t new – she was also the leading run scorer in WBBL|03, scoring 552 runs in 16 innings – it’s the rate at which they’re being scored that has been so impressive.

Last WBBL season, Perry was striking at 98.57, but this season she’s scoring her runs at a much-improved 130.72.

Perry insists her run of form hasn’t been a response to her international demotion, but rather, she believes she’s reaping the rewards of the last 12 months of work she’s been putting into her batting.

“It’s 12 months down the track and the game’s continually evolving and everyone’s trying to go with it,” Perry said late last month.

“It’s such an exciting period of time to be involved, it’s been nice to have had a few challenges to work on and sometimes it comes off which is nice.”

WBBL TOP RUN SCORERS

617 – Ellyse Perry (Sixers) WBBL|04 (12 matches)

560 – Meg Lanning (Stars) WBBL|01 (14 matches)

552 – Ellyse Perry (Sixers) WBBL|03 (16 matches)

502 – Meg Lanning (Stars) WBBL|02 (13 matches)