Ellyse Perry, the world’s No. 1 all-rounder in women’s cricket, smashed a superb hundred in the second ODI against West Indies Women. Her ton helped Australia Women thrash the hosts by 151 runs in Antigua. The visitors now lead 2-0 in the three-ODI series.
After an all-round clinical performance in Women’s Ashes to help Australia retain the urn in England, unstoppable Perry continued her dream run with the willow. She recorded her highest ODI score – 112* off 118 balls to help her team get to 308 for 2 in 50 overs. In reply, the home team could only make 157 runs for the fall of 8 wickets.
After putting up a great Man-of-the-Match show, the 28-year-old was glad she could contribute and help her team win especially in the absence of regular skipper Meg Lanning. Lanning couldn’t play as she was suffering from back spasms. Perry also hailed Alyssa Healy (58), Ashleigh Gardner (57*), and Beth Mooney (56) for scoring a half-century each to help Australia post a colossal total.
“It’s nice, it was cool to contribute today. It was a real shame with Meg going down before the game, but that gave other people an opportunity and everyone stood up. I enjoyed my time in the middle today, but I think there were some great contributions [all round],” the centurion batswoman told reporters after the match.
The right-hander, apart from wreaking havoc on the opposition with the bat, was miserly with the ball, giving away only five runs and scalping one wicket.
“It was fine, at the start I was a bit mentally AWOL. I was a bit lucky, to be fair, getting dropped early, but that seemed to wake me up a bit,” she added.
Perry also expressed her love for her bat, revealing –
“I just sleep with it next to me, and it’s a really good spooning partner at night, we’re pretty close, my bat and I.
“Every now and then, I need to do some running repairs, and I’ve been trying to find something to make my bat a little bit lighter, which I haven’t been able to do. So, I take it home and never do anything with it in the end,” the explosive Aussie player signed off.
