The only way I want to play is as an allrounder, says Ellyse Perry as she aims for WBBL06 return

Sydney Sixers skipper Ellyse Perry is hopeful of returning from her hamstring injury to play in the side's opening fixture of the sixth season of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) starting on October 25. The talismanic allrounder hasn’t played any form of cricket since tearing her hamstring during the T20 World Cup group stage match against New Zealand at home earlier this year.



With the COVID-19 pandemic halting everything, Perry got ample time for rehabilitation post her surgery. She was also part of the Australia squad for the New Zealand series in Brisbane where she suffered a setback with a fresh injury on the same hamstring that ruled her out of the series.



“We sort of ended up taking a pretty conservative approach to the New Zealand series in the hope of making sure that I was 100 per cent good to go for the start of the WBBL, which is looking that way,” Perry said at a media interaction in Sydney on Monday (October 12). “We've got another 10 or so days before our first game. And nice to have a little bit of preparation here in Sydney and it should be all good.”



“I've been training fully for close to a month. There are just a lot different things that are probably a little bit harder to control in matches. So, we wanted to make sure that I was exposed to that enough in training before playing again. From my perspective, I've been really keen to make sure that when I do play again, it's not at a lower level of capacity than what I'm used to. So, it's going really well."



“Besides a little blip that we had up in Brisbane, it's all gone to plan. So, fingers crossed that keeps going. It is still about two weeks away. If we were talking about right here, right now playing in that first game, then that's certainly the goal and that’s what we're planning for.”



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There have been discussions about the possibility of Perry returning as a pure batter considering the injury and the workload in mind. Australia head coach Matthew Mott had spoken about how she is determined to get back to playing as a “genuine allrounder” even though she is good enough to make the side purely as a batter in his opinion.



“It's easy to talk about those things, I suppose when you're not playing and you have a little challenge or an injury. Cricket in general is actually a really low impact sport. It's not like I'm playing a contact sport. I'm not quite 30 yet. So, I still feel like I've got a lot left,” said Perry.



“I think it's just one of the things, I just need to get on the park again and keep playing. And then all of this will be forgotten. It won't be as big a deal. From my perspective, the only way I really want to play cricket is how I play, that is both (as a) batter and bowler. I don't think I'd offer enough, just as a batter to keep playing and I don't think I'd enjoy it either, to be honest.”



“Certainly training plays a big role in that and just preparation side of things too. To get in a fortunate position to have had a bit of experience over a number of years playing in this competition, but just playing cricket in general. So, there's an element of that. Just knowing my body that hopefully takes a little bit of that kind of anxiety or awareness away when we play."



"I do think just playing when you get in a game situation, you’re just focused on what's going on with that and you forget about all the peripheral stuff,” she added. All the 59 matches of the WBBLO6 will be played in the Sydney hub in a bio-bubble with players adhering to bio-secure protocols owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Perry believes the situation provides new opportunities along with the challenges.



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Ellyse Perry is doing everything in her power to make a return as a genuine allrounder. © Getty Images



“Like everything this year, it's a little bit different. And I think certainly this rendition of the WBBL is going to be quite unique. The Sydney hub poses lots of really great opportunities for every team and some new challenges too. Keeping fresh and not getting over the monotony of being in the same place for an extended period of time will be tough. But there are some great bonuses there in terms of spending lots of time together, finding ways to have fun and enjoying each other's company is going to be really cool,” she said.



Sydney Sixers is one of the most successful sides in the competition having won the tournament twice so far in its five-year history. Along with the Sydney Thunder, they will be the only other side with the advantage of playing at home.



“I love playing here. Hopefully, we can have some crowds as well, which would be great. Sydney is a certainty home for us and we've built a really loyal group of supporters over the last five seasons. There are lots of familiar faces that come to games. So hopefully that can continue and even just seeing friends and family from a distance would be great too,” Perry added.



“We've been really fortunate to experience quite a lot of success in this competition. I think something that’s we probably pride ourselves on, more so than that, is the engagement that we have with fans. It's certainly going to be different this year with a lot of the social distancing rules. But hopefully, we still have the chance to have people along to games to tune in and watch our games and connect with fans is probably most important to us, even more so than winning competitions. But it'd be nice to be both.”



Perry, who has represented Australia in 120 T20Is, said the WBBL has had a huge impact on women’s cricket around the world, and feels this Australian summer is going to be key for the sport’s future as it tries to gain its lost momentum post the pandemic.



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“I think every facet of life has been impacted by everyone, not just sporting organisations or athletes, but even more so for many other people. It's just been one of those years that we've all had to adapt to and make certain allowances and concessions,” she said



“The concessions that Cricket Australia has had to make in terms of getting this series off and then obviously all the planning around bio-security and the impact that's having on everyone is huge. But at the end of the day, you're looking at it and what this competition has done for the women's cricket, not just here, but around the world.



"It makes it certainly very much worth it and has added a level of excitement to the summer that I think everyone was really after having had such a low key winter and really not knowing what was going to be ahead for us with the current conditions. I think it's a great thing. It's obviously a bit of a trade-off there, but it's six weeks and it's going to be a wonderful experience and lots of memories.”



Australia’s next scheduled international fixture is a home series against India in January 2021 and Perry is hopeful that the authorities will do everything in their power to make sure the series goes ahead as planned.



“Obviously this summer is really important for the sport and hopefully getting India to come out. I think a lot hinges on that. So, we're all really aware of that and want to make sure that everything's done well leading up to that, to make sure that it goes ahead. I think we're all going to learn a lot from this, both as athletes, but also in life in general. And yet you just got to go along with conditions like anything,” she concluded.