Athlete, friend, competitor, confidante: The many sides to ‘Pez’
Ask any of Ellyse Perry’s Australian teammates to describe the legendary allrounder in one word, and it’s safe to say ‘committed’, ‘professional’, ‘hard-working’ – and yes, ‘GOAT’ – will be among the most common answers.
That perfectionism, which extends to every facet of Perry’s approach to being an elite athlete, has been key in her longevity, as she celebrates her 20th calendar year of international cricket.
When Perry walks onto Adelaide Oval this evening, it will be for the 350th time in international cricket; becoming the first Australian woman, and only third overall, to reach the milestone.
Australia’s next most-capped players are current ODI and Test captain Alyssa Healy (295) and former vice-captain Alex Blackwell (252).
“Pez ticks every single box that you need to tick to be an elite athlete, not just (an elite) cricketer,” Megan Schutt told cricket.com.au earlier this summer.
“I think that’s the big difference, and has been her key to the longevity in the game.
“She wants to get better as a cricketer, and bat better and change her temperament, change her style, everything that comes with that.
“But then she’s so focused on her body, being fit, being strong, eating the right things, recovering right … like anything that you can think to make her better, she’s doing, and I’m so far from that.
“I really admire that, but also the mental aspect to keep doing that for 20 years, it’s absolutely insane.”
Perry has not always left such a large impression on Schutt, however.
When the South Australian first arrived in the national side in 2012, fresh-faced, green and a self-described “ratbag”, she was unfazed by the allrounder, who was already five years deep into her own international career and forging a reputation as one of the world’s best.
“When I first came into the squad, she gave me nothing, and I probably gave her nothing, to be fair, probably went both ways,” Schutt laughed.
“I didn’t have a huge (knowledge) of cricket coming in … so I didn’t hold Pez on this pedestal like I probably should have.
“I was probably blasé about everyone involved in that team, and the whole environment.
“Then once I obviously realised and worked with her, I was like, so far off the mark early.
“But now the connection that Pez and I have – (she’s an) incredible human.
“(She’s) such a down-to-earth human who hates talking about her achievements, but ultimately really cares about the game, where it’s going, the perceptions of the people involved, the staff involved, and is an extremely thoughtful person, and I think that reflects in her cricket.
“A lot of people who get to know her off the field go, ‘I didn’t realise she was like that’, and I wish everyone could see that side of her, but there’s so much to see in the cricketing world that you can’t get access to that.”
For Healy, the association with Perry goes back a lot further.
Long before Perry was plucked out of high school and handed an international debut before she had even played for New South Wales at age 16, the pair played with and against one another in primary school and rose through the ranks of the NSW pathways together.
Healy was right there on the journey when Perry made her ODI debut against New Zealand in Darwin in 2007, and, following her own international debut three years later, have taken the field alongside one another for Australia on 264 occasions.
“I remember Ellyse before she was ‘Ellyse Perry’,” Healy told cricket.com.au.
“She was known as ‘dags’. We were playing school cricket and our uniforms were way too big for us, because we were two of the smallest people on the planet.
“My first impressions were just of this competitive beast, and we played against one another a lot, and we’d just go on hammer and tong.
“I think we were racing to see who got the most hundreds in an underage tournament – how ridiculous is that?
“She was just really good at what she did with both bat and ball, and just always seemed to be the professional athlete from such a young age.”
Long before Healy was appointed Australian captain in 2023, she was affectionately known as the team pest and troublemaker.
However, with the end of her own international career now approaching, she can reveal she was not always alone in those endeavours.
“I feel like I can start selling this story now that we’re at the back end of our careers, but funnily enough, I got in trouble a lot (in the early years),” Healy said.
“But the instigator of a lot of the things that I got in trouble for growing up actually came out of the mouth of Ellyse Perry, so I was just the one that followed through on it.
“So yeah, there’s a few stories out there, and I don’t want to get her into trouble, but I’ll let her tell them one day. But I just want people to know that.”
Perry’s 349-game career has been littered with era-defining highlights.
There was her first World Cup win in the West Indies in 2010, where she stuck out her foot in her follow through to save a certain boundary and seal victory over New Zealand.
There was bowling on a fractured ankle in the 2013 World Cup final to deliver three wickets and victory over the West Indies in Mumbai.
A final-day six-wicket haul in the 2015 Ashes Test in Canterbury that secured Australia’s first Test win on foreign soil since 2001 and paved the way to regaining the Ashes trophy.
The double century – infamously celebrated twice – in the day-night Ashes Test at North Sydney Oval in 2017.
The 7-22 to dismantle England in an Ashes ODI in 2019.
The list goes on.
Since Perry’s 2007 debut, Australia have played 403 games across the three formats, and she has featured in 349 of them.
“To play that many games for your country is ridiculous,” teammate Ashleigh Gardner told cricket.com.au.
“She will, no doubt, go down as the greatest that’s ever played this sport, male or female.
“Being able to play all three formats for such a long period of time, to score the amount of runs that she has, to take the amount of wickets that she has, to keep her body going through all that as well.
“To start your international career at 16 is just ridiculous.”
Gardner has played alongside Perry in the green and gold since 2017, and while also forging a strong connection through their years playing in magenta together for the Sydney Sixers.
While Perry has never held an official leadership label in the national side, the 35-year-old is seen as a spiritual leader and has been closely involved in shaping the Australian team’s culture.
“I think (it’s) the person that I’ve seen off the field (that’s had) the most growth – she’s become one of my really good mates,” Gardner said.
“To have someone like that in your corner, she’ll do anything for her teammates.
“She’s always someone that I could call at any time of the day, and she’d be there, willing to listen and crack a joke, have some banter, keep things quite light-hearted.
“She’s always willing to care about others and put others before her.”
NRMA Insurance Australia v India Multi-Format Series
The multi-format series is tied 2-2
Australia T20I squad: Sophie Molineux (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham
India T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Renuka Thakur, Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Uma Chetry, Arundhati Reddy, Amanjot Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Bharti Fulmali, Shreyanka Patil
February 15: India won by 21 runs (DLS)
February 19: Australia won by 19 runs
February 21: Third T20, Adelaide Oval, 7:15pm AEDT
Australia ODI squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Sophie Molineux (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham
India ODI squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Renuka Thakur, Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Kashvee Gautam, Amanjot Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Uma Chetry, Harleen Deol
February 24: First ODI, Allan Border Field, Brisbane, 2:50pm AEDT
February 27: Second ODI, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 2:50pm AEDT
March 1: Third ODI, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 2:50pm AEDT
Australia Test squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Sophie Molineux (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham
India Test squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma, Renuka Singh, Sneh Rana, Amanjot Kaur, Uma Chetry, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Kranti Gaud, Vaishnavi Sharma, Sayali Satghare
March 6-9: Test match, WACA Ground, 4:20pm AEDT (D/N)
