The much-anticipated Women’s Ashes 2023 started at Trent Bridge on Thursday, June 22 with an Ellyse Perry masterclass. However, one of the best all-rounders of this format was about to hit another hundred, but she got out at 99. And, Ellyse Perry said that getting out for 99 was “a bit of a bummer”, but she won’t allow that to spoil her enjoyment of a compelling first day of the Women’s Ashes 2023 as well.
However, the debutant Lauren Filer had the last laugh as she dismissed Ellyse Perry and this was the key moment of the match so far. With this, England bounced back in the game, reducing Australia to 238 for 6 from 202 for 2 after a rain delay.
Later, Ashleigh Gardner and Annabel Sutherland steadied the ship with a seventh-wicket stand of 77, showing the batting depth. But, Lauren Bell’s first delivery with the new ball saw Gardner’s dismissal for 40. And, they managed 328 for 7 before the stumps on the Day 1 of the one-off Test of Women’s Ashes 2023.
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“It was just a great tussle,” Ellyse Perry said at the post-match press conference. “Importantly, it was a nice way for us to finish at the end there, after a pretty tricky session after the rain delay. If both teams look at it, I think they’d be pretty happy with today in different areas, and then there’s probably other areas where one team got the upper hand over the other. So yeah, I think that’s a great day of Test cricket, if it looks like that.”
However, it is safe to say Ellyse Perry is born to rule the Test format. And, scoring big in Ashes test has become a ritual for her. Ahead of this, she smashed a career-best 213 not out against England at Sydney in November 2017, and then in England, at Taunton in 2019, she scored 116 and 76 not out as well.
Meanwhile, the debutant Filer has touched speeds in excess of 75mph on debut as well and her coach, Jon Lewis was quite impressed with that. She would have had a great start when she trapped Perry on the first ball for 10, where she was hit on the pads and given out lbw, but Perry was quick for a review to confirm a big inside edge and survived as well. And she had Ellyse Perry when she came for her third spell.
Ellyse Perry, looking for her hundred, went for the drive and got some extra lift and bounce and Nat Sciver-Brunt at gully did the rest. However, she said that she’d been thinking about “nothing in particular”.
“Like every other ball, it’s just an opportunity at a particular moment in time, and I’d had a really great tussle with Filer the whole time. I thought she was extremely impressive today on debut and brought the game alive at different points. So that ball just had my measure, which is totally fine. It’s a number, and one that we talk about a lot in cricket, but the whole experience out there today was so much fun. I’ve loved every opportunity. Sometimes things just go that way. It’s hard to be disappointed,” Ellyse Perry added.
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“It was nice to contribute,” she further added. “It was nice to be a part of a few really good partnerships, particularly that one with TMac [McGrath]. It’s just like any other time to get out. It’s a bit of a bummer, but gosh, the game definitely goes on, and life goes on for sure.”
Ellyse Perry continued: “I really enjoyed today, to be out there and to be a part of it. To have a great atmosphere with the crowd, which just shows how much the game’s come along, and how much quality there was in the game today, with bat and ball, was just awesome.”
Meanwhile, Sophie Ecclestone was the pick of the bowler, registering the day’s best figures of 3 for 71 in 31 overs as well. She removed McGrath for 61 and broke the steady century partnership with Ellyse Perry. After that, she dismissed Jess Jonassen and Alyssa Healy in the same over and left the opponent struggling in the middle.
“It’s probably quite unique, if I think about the Tests that I played in over the years, to just have one frontline spinner in the bowling attack, and that probably just speaks volumes of how incredibly good Sophie Ecclestone is. She’s the pre-eminent spinner in the world, really,” Ellyse Perry concluded.
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