There aren’t many bigger names in women’s sport. We sit down for an interview with Ellyse Perry.
For someone at the very forefront of the rise of women’s cricket, Ellyse Perry, dual international, is actually the last of a dying breed. Growing up, her sporting heroes were men. She aspired to play like Michael Hussey, Harry Kewell or Mark Viduka. She was undoubtedly aware of sportswomen and their feats but her exposure to sport, like everyone else’s, was largely restricted to the men’s game.
That’s changing now. Due to societal trends, increased media coverage and a change in approach from some national governing bodies, young girls can watch Steph Houghton, Maddie Hinch or Laura Trott close up – and they can then see them online and on TV. They can have heroes who are just like them. Many choose Perry.
“Certainly the ones I watched most on TV and knew the most about were the men’s teams,” she explains. “I had some idea of the women’s team in both sports [football and cricket] but the level of public knowledge about women’s sports teams has really increased, almost ten-fold, and that’s really wonderful for girls.”
Fortunately for girls in the UK, the Australian allrounder has been on our doorstep this summer. The inaugural Kia Super League followed on from the success of the Women’s Big Bash League and, amongst many other things, Cricket Australia (CA) and the ECB learned that there is an appetite for domestic women’s cricket. In 10 years’ time, some of the girls who right now are getting their faces painted in team colours and queuing up for autographs will be professional cricketers themselves, and they’ll be able to cite a number of female sporting role models.
Perry though is a true allrounder – in every sense of the word – and there’ll be much more going on once her career at the very top of elite sport is over. She’s studying Economics and Social Science at the University of Sydney, pursuing business opportunities (she owns two coffee shops) and there’s already something of the politician about how she navigates an interview. You get the sense that she’ll be darn good at whatever she takes.
For the time being though, it’s cricket – and a bit of football – and, whether she acknowledges it or not, inspiring the next generation. “To be able to progress my love of sport into a career has been an absolute dream come true. I’ve been really fortunate to be afforded the chance to turn my passion into a career: if someone would have told me that 15 years ago I would have been absolutely thrilled.”
She’ll be even more thrilled knowing that because of people like her, those young girls who are now learning to love cricket can legitimately dream of following in her footsteps and making a career in the game.
