IND vs AUS: Perry’s Wankhede resilience brings back memories of one-legged heroics in 2013 World Cup final

The sun was starting to make its way down the sky. The humidity at the Wankhede Stadium was easing up, but still there to remind the cricketers that they had to fight through it. In the middle were Australia’s Phoebe Litchfield and Ellyse Perry, going about chasing a competitive 282 run by run in the first ODI between the countries.

And then, Perry began to cramp.

Adding to the intensity of it all were some innovative sledges from the crowd congregated in the Garware pavilion.

“She won’t beat the heat, she won’t beat the heat…Ellyse Perry won’t beat the heat,” the crowd sang.

ALSO READ: IND vs AUS one-off Test: Perseverance, thy name is Pooja Vastrakar

“She’s no Jemi… She’s no Jemi…Ellyse Perry is no Jemi…” came the follow-up. (Jemimah Rodrigues had scored a fighting 82 powering through multiple instances of throwing up and severe dehydration).

And then a little kid screamed “Perry is no Maxwell..” which immediately got the chanting section of the crowd to turn and shush the kid, reminding him of who they were going after.

Ellyse Perry of Australia celebrates after scoring fifty with Phoebe Litchfield of Australia during the 1st ODI match against India.
| Photo Credit:
EMMANUAL YOGINI

The Perry-Maxwell comparison was hard not to make. At this very venue on November 7, ‘Big Show’ (as Maxwell’s moniker goes) put on an innings for the ages, fighting through severe cramps to score an unbeaten 201* against Afghanistan in their World Cup league stage fixture. He was so physically drained out, that he stopped running and scored his runs without any footwork or even without both hands sometimes by finding the boundary.

REPORT | IND-W vs AUS-W 1st ODI: Litchfield-Perry partnership helps Australia clinch six-wicket win

In Perry’s case, things had not gotten as bad, but the mandate was similar. Alyssa Healy had fallen for a duck and the job could not be dumped on the lower order. Perry’s run with the bat in India during the Test match was ordinary compared to her high standards – 4(2b) and 45 (91b) – and this was a chance to make amends, especially after she wasn’t given bowling duties in this game. While the Indian innings was always kept in check, a few partnerships were allowed to flourish in parts with the Indian total maybe 30 runs more than the Aussies would have liked to allow.

“Pez had a cramp in her calf, and it was pretty funny. I sort of had flashbacks to Glenn Maxwell’s innings,” Litchfield said after the game.

“I think she cramped and then hit a six down the ground. So that’s Ellyse Perry for you. She got into the game a bit more after she started cramping because she realised she wouldn’t be there for too long from that point on,” she added.

ACES POPULAR CHOICE AWARDS | VOTING OPEN NOW – Click here to vote!

It speaks to her toughness as an athlete that there was no change in the way she pursued the ones and twos or how she moved her feet to get the ball to the boundary, but the discomfort was visible. She was hobbling, squatting to put some pressure on her aching legs and extremely fidgety at the crease.

However, there was some poetic justice in that Maxwell jibe from the kid in the stand being answered by a massive six-over long-off by the Australian legend, with the ball landing on the broadcast camera set up in front of the Garware pavilion.

Ellyse Perry exemplifies a very Australian mentality of powering through to a win for the team
| Photo Credit:
AFP

“Pez just played her own game and struck down the ground well when I was struggling a bit at the start there. But that’s partnership cricket, it ebbs and flows, and it was enjoyable to bat with her,” Litchfield said about batting alongside her.

Perry eventually fell after holing out to Pooja Vastrakar at the long-on boundary, with enough strength to hit the ball hard, but not enough to send it a few metres further along. But the foundation was set. 148 runs were on board and at a brisk rate to boot. From there on, Litchfield, McGrath and Mooney took over to help Australia saunter to a win.

ALSO READ: The Healy-Harmanpreet polarisation – an era-defining rivalry in the making?

Memories of Brabourne in 2013

This brand of heroics is not new in the Perry Playbook of cricket. In this very city, albeit a few kilometres down the road at the Brabourne Stadium, a then 22-year-old Perry inspired Australia to a famous World Cup win against West Indies.

Perry had been struggling with an ankle injury throughout the tournament, which forced her to miss much of the tournament. However, coach Catherine Fitzpatrick and captain Jodie Fields could not leave out their star player against a worryingly powerful West Indies outfit.

Looking back 10 years later, the scoreboards, unfortunately, don’t tell us about what a big ask this was of a player struggling to land on her foot properly due to pain. In that clash, she first stepped up with the bat, giving able assistance to skipper Fields as their unbeaten 50-run stand for the eighth wicket helped get a dipping Australian score to 259/7.

Australia’s Ellyse Perry celebrates the wicket of Stafanie Taylor during the ICC Women’s World Cup final against West Indies.
| Photo Credit:
PTI

Australia was wary of the depth of the West Indies batting order, which began with the likes of Kycia Knight and Stephanie Taylor – who had scored a cruel 137-ball 171 against Sri Lanka in the same tournament – and had the brute force of someone like Deandra Dottin (who scored a 20-ball fifty) further down. Additionally, it was teammate and friend Lisa Sthalekar’s farewell match. Perry firing was that much more crucial in this context.

She was brought on in the 10th over and struggled in her run-up. Her left leg, the one she had to land on to bowl, was not allowing her to put any pressure on it. After two attempts aborted in the middle, she got going – her first over a wicket maiden with Kyca Knight caught leg before.

Ellyse Perry’s three-wicket burst took the game away from West Indies
| Photo Credit:
VIVEK BENDRE

READ | IND-W vs AUS-W 1st ODI: Litchfield compares Perry’s innings to Maxwell knock against Afghanistan

Bowling in partnership with Sthalekar, Perry removed Taylor in her next over, catching her off her bowling. The dangerous West Indian walked with just a five-run contribution to her team’s chase. She got a wicket off her third over too – a wicket maiden with Natasha McLean caught plumb in front. The top three of the West Indian lineup were shunted back to the pavilion by a bowler who was, for all practical purposes, playing on one leg.

The Sthalekar- Perry duo gave away just 14 runs in the next seven overs. Perry got a breather, with her first spell giving stupendous figures of 6-2-8-3. She went on to finish her full quota of 10 overs, conceding just 19 runs in total. She played with painkiller injections to even tolerate the game and went on to have surgery days after helping Australia lift its sixth World title.

Time changes, Perry doesn’t

Incidentally, matches originally scheduled at the Wankhede Stadium were hastily moved to accommodate the final of the Ranji Trophy between Mumbai and Saurashtra. India did not make the Super Six stage, so it is perhaps understandable why the performance that capped the tournament isn’t one that’s fresh in public memory. However, to hand a transitioning Australian side a victory in its most dominant format by beating a host high on a famous Test win from just a couple of days prior, with a nice throwback to the kind of resilience she’s capable of, will be a special page in Perry’s illustrious career.