Australia left out their star player Ellyse Perry for the first Women’s Ashes T20I against England, leading to plenty of reactions on social media.

Not many would’ve expected the Aussies to go ahead and drop one of their all-time great players before this encounter, but the decision might have been brewing for some time now. Perry suffered a hamstring injury during the Women’s T20 World Cup 2020, and hasn’t quite been the same player since then.

The all-rounder’s numbers have seen a downturn since 2020, especially in the T20I format. Perry scored 152 runs at an average of 16.8 and a strike-rate of 103.4 in the last two years. While bowling she has picked nine wickets at an average of 20.44, which are decent numbers but don’t stand out.

Matthew Mott, the Australia Women’s head coach, in an interview with 7Cricket put it down to getting in more big-hitting muscle in the middle order: “Yeah, look we flagged with Ellyse a few weeks ago that there was gonna be pressure on some spots there. All our research shows and particularly the trends in men’s game: that the ability of five, six, and seven to score quickly and get a very high strike-rate. So once she wasn’t considered in the top order, it became a different conversation, and that’s why someone like Grace has come in.”

Still, Perry’s exclusion drew a number of reactions.

Some acknowledged Perry’s precarious position but were surprised at her being dropped.

And many were still shocked at this decision.

To others, it seemed a sign of how strong Australia were at the moment.

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