TALENT

Ellyse Perry

Cricketer

The world's best women's cricket player

‘Youngest’, ‘Only’, ‘Best’ — You don’t get very far into a description of Ellyse Perry’s career before the superlatives appear.

Not only is Ellyse the youngest ever cricketer, male or female, to have represented Australia, she is one of very few Australians to have represented her country in two different sports, and the only person ever to have played for Australia in both cricket and football (soccer) World Cups.

No wonder Cricket Australia, not short of high achievers to draw upon, calls Ellyse ‘arguably the best athlete in Australia’.

Currently the world’s top-ranked women’s all-rounder, the ever modest Ellyse’s many accolades include being named the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year in both 2017 and 2019, winning the ICC Player of the Decade in 2020 and three times winning Australia’s prestigious Women’s International Cricketer of the Year (Belinda Clark Award) in 2016, 2018 and 2020.

With more than a decade of elite-level success, Ellyse is in her prime as an international sports star.

Excelling in both soccer and cricket from a young age, Ellyse was named in the Australian women’s cricket team, the Southern Stars, aged just 16. Thirteen days later she made her international debut with the Australian women’s soccer team, the Matildas.

Meanwhile, among Ellyse’s 16 international caps as a Matildas midfielder, was the 2011 World Cup campaign, where her blinding left goal against Sweden in the Quarter-Final made news around the world. To this day, it is regarded as the best goal ever scored by an Australian.

In cricket, Ellyse’s bowling played a pivotal role in Australia’s victory in the 2010 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, where she was named Player of the Match in the final.

Ellyse starred in Australia’s 2012 and 2014 T20 cricket World Cup triumphs, steering Australia to victory in the 2013 World Cup and was named Player of the Series in both the 2014 and 2015 Women’s Ashes.

Between 2015 and 2017, Ellyse scored 16 half centuries over 26 innings and in the 2017 Ashes scored 213 not out – the highest score ever by an Australian.

In November 2018, Ellyse helped Australia win its fourth World T20 tournament and became the first Australian cricketer, male or female, to take 100 wickets in T20 International matches.

In January of 2019, Ellyse was named Player of the Tournament for the WBBL 04 season and became the first Big Bash player to reach 2000 runs.

During the 2019 Women’s Ashes tour of England, Ellyse continued to prove her dominance when she broke the record for the best ever ODI bowling figures by an Australian woman (7-22 from 10 overs). She also became the first player in the world to score 1000 runs in T20 Internationals. There was no doubt why she was then named Player of the Series.

Ellyse capped off 2019 by being named ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year for the second time. She continued that momentum into 2020, receiving the Belinda Clark Award for the third time, followed by the Australian women’s team winning the ICC T20 World Cup. In the same year, Ellyse was also named as the ICC Female Cricketer of the Decade!