Nottingham [UK], June 23 : Australia's Ellyse Perry admitted that though being dismissed for 99 was "a bit of a bummer," she wasn't going to let it stop her from appreciating the exciting opening day of the Women's Ashes at Trent Bridge.
The game's turning point thus far was Perry's dismissal, caught in the gully off the fiery rookie Lauren Filer's delivery, as England overcame a daunting post-lunch score of 202 for 2 to reduce Australia to 328/7 after a protracted rain delay.
However, she wouldn't be without that first wicket for long as she got Beth Mooney to slash to gully at the end of her third over. And Filer caught the large fish when she came back in the late afternoon for her third shift. In search of her hundred, Perry was enticed into the drive and pushed along by some added lift and bounce. Nat Sciver-Brunt made no errors in the gully.
Perry stated that she had been thinking about "nothing in particular" when asked if the landmark had been on her mind.
"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," ESPNcricinfo quoted Ellyse Perry as saying.
"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 loved every opportunity. Sometimes things just go that way. It's hard to be disappointed," Perry said.
"It was nice to contribute. 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," she added.
England's Sophie Ecclestone, who bowled 28 overs on each side of the rain break to record the day's top statistics of 3 for 71 in 31 overs, contributed a lot of that quality. Alyssa Healy and Jess Jonassen joined a mini-collapse, which featured the important dismissal of Tahlia McGrath, who was bowled by a beauty for 61 to halt her fearsome century stand with Perry. Two more wickets fell in the space of three balls as well.
"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," Perry said.
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