Ellyse Perry

Ellyse Perry has been one of dominant players of her - or any - generation as well as a global icon of the game and female sport. She became the youngest Australian ever to play international cricket when she debuted in the second ODI of the Rose Bowl series against New Zealand in July 2007, before her 17th birthday, despite never having played a domestic match at the senior level.

Australia had been looking for a replacement for fast bowler Cathryn Fitzpatrick, who retired in March 2007, and initially that was the role Perry settled into. However, for a time that had been uncertain as she also had the alluring prospect of a long-term career in soccer, and was representing the Matildas when the call-up to the national cricket team came. Her future in cricket had been secured when she was in the group of the first women cricketers to be handed contracts by Cricket Australia in 2008. Nonetheless, she went on to represent Australia in World Cup football, becoming the first woman to represent the country in World Cups in two sports, and continued for a short while to juggle both, representing Sydney FC in the Women's League.

By the time Perry had made her Test debut against England in 2008, she had already made headlines, when, days earlier, her unbeaten 29 that included a massive straight six, and four wickets on T20I international debut, led Australia to a 21-run win over England at the MCG.

Initially, it was her bowling that proved her stronger suit, and she picked up her maiden five-wicket haul in an ODI against New Zealand in February 2010. Three months later, she was Australia's leading wicket-taker at the Women's World T20 in the Caribbean. That included a Player-of-the-Match performance in the final, where her three wickets helped restrict New Zealand in a thrilling run chase. She went on to play a vital role in all of Australia's four World Cup victories in as many years, though she will forever be remembered for the 2013 Women's World Cup final against West Indies, when, barely able to walk, she limped in to bowl 10 overs and took 3 for 19.

However, her credentials as an allrounder were growing and between 2014 and 2019 she produced stunning Ashes returns which included a double century in Sydney and another hundred in Taunton. In 2015, when she missed out with the bat, she claimed nine wickets to help Australia regain the Ashes. In a sign of how her batting went to new levels in the latter part of the decade she become a run-machine for the Sydney Sixers in the WBBL.

Everything seemed set for her to be a vital part of the T20 World Cup campaign on home soil in 2020, but during the group match against New Zealand she suffered a severe hamstring injury which ruled her out of the knockouts, although she was there to lift the trophy with her team in front of 86,000 people at the MCG.

An extensive recovery followed - which coincided with the Covid pandemic - and Perry returned to action a year later. However, not long after she found herself sidelined from Australia's T20I side (she carried the drinks during the 2022 Commonwealth Games) and was challenged to adapt her batting to an evolving game amid emerging young talent that were pushing for places.

As great players do, she found a way: since returning to the T20I side in December 2022 her strike-rate has been 135.40, compared to 105.47 beforehand. Her bowling has taken more of a backseat in recent years across all formats, particularly since 2023, although in 2024 claimed 6 for 15 for RCB in the WPL which, as of 2026, remained the tournament's best figures.

She is a three-time Belinda Clark Award winner (2016, 2018 and 2020) and was named Cricinfo's Greatest Female Cricketer of the 21st century.
Raf Nicholson and ESPNcricinfo staff