Birmingham Phoenix and Australia all-rounder Ellyse Perry says she will continue to evolve as women’s cricket grows with the introduction of more franchise tournaments.
Perry, 31, has played a major role in Australia’s all-conquering team – being regarded as the best all-rounder in the world for almost a decade – but she lost her place in the Twenty20 side over the winter and, despite being in the squad for this summer’s Commonwealth Games, did not play as Australia won gold.
At the time of her first omission, national selector Shawn Flegler said “we want to keep pushing the boat out with our strike-rate” and “we always want our players to develop and evolve, and Ellyse is no different”.
Perry’s career strike-rate (average runs scored per hundred balls) in international T20s is 105.47, which is why her impressive form in The Hundred might be turning a few heads down under.
She has so far scored 97 runs off 59 balls in The Hundred, at a strike-rate of 164.40.
“You’ve always got to be evolving, that is certainly part of the enjoyment that I get from being involved in the sport,” Perry told BBC Sport after her unbeaten 39 saw Phoenix win their second successive group game.
“I always want to try and get a bit better and do things a little differently.
“The game has just come on leaps and bounds and you can’t just keep doing the same things – I think that goes for everyone because people work it out pretty quickly.”