Ellyse Perry hails ‘clinical, professional’ display

Ellyse Perry has hailed Australia’s successive match-winning performances in the one-day internationals against India as “two of the most clinical and professional” ones the team has pulled off.

After their ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 semi-final loss to India, when they were blown away by a stunning batting display from Harmanpreet Kaur, Australia have looked like a side with a point to prove.

They have stressed on being positive and ruthless, and lived up to that promise on their tour of India. In the warm-up games, they first posted an emphatic 413 before rolling India A over for 92. Then, they chased down 170 in just 26 overs with seven wickets to spare.

In the ICC Women’s Championship matches, they’re two for two. First, chasing India’s 200, they eased to the finish in 32.1 overs, having lost just two batters. In the second match, they posted 287, and wrapped up a comfortable 60-run win.

Perry was thrilled with the intent and spirit shown by the team to be able to dominate a tough Indian side. “Something that's so pleasing is that we've come off a really long summer at home and all the girls have played a lot of cricket, but we've all come into this tournament with so much enthusiasm and energy and have really wanted to perform well over in these conditions, because we're aware of how good this Indian team is,” she said.

Credit for the wins should go to how well Australia have played, pulling themselves up from tough situations in the field and not caving into pressure, she said. “For me, that's two of the most clinical and professional performances we've done. We've really stuck to our game plans and processes and I think that's really showing because of the professionalism and how much cricket we've played in the last 12 months, but particularly over our summer.

“It's been a really great start for us, but we have a lot of cricket left too.”

One of their star performers has been Megan Schutt, the pacer. Even when she hasn’t taken wickets in clutches, she’s set it up for the other bowlers with her economical bowling. She has conceded just 37 and 24 runs in the two games so far.

Paying tribute to her fellow pacer, Perry said, “She’s been our strike bowler. She really sets the tone for us early. She’s playing on a different wicket at times. She just puts so much pressure on the batters.

“It’s been awesome to see her play so well and so consistently.”

The all-rounder, who brought up an incredible 25th career half-century on Thursday, was also soaking in the atmosphere at Vadodara, which has seen good crowds for the matches. “It was amazing,” said Perry. “The crowd has been phenomenal, to have that kind of atmosphere, albeit not cheering for us, it just creates such a buzz.

“I really hope it's a great crowd on Sunday, there's been some great quality cricket played so people can come down and watch a good show. We really do appreciate the support of the crowd and how much they love women's cricket.”