Hot Take: Ellyse Perry let the Sydney Sixers down this season.
[Ed: What? Have you gone you mad?]
Yes… but there is method in my madness, so let me explain!
Prior to this season, Perry the batsman had a problem in Twenty20 – although her big innings were always scored at a respectable Strike Rate, she invariably tended to start very slowly, often scoring her first 25 runs at a Strike Rate pushing as low as 50. This meant that if she got out for 25, she’d chewed up a lot of balls in the process, putting big pressure on the rest of the team.
However, this WBBL season was different – she found a way of adjusting mentally, and almost “starting her innings in the middle”, which allowed her to score at 100+ from the off; and this is one of the reasons she was able to score those two hundreds and six fifties which all-but guaranteed her the Player of the Tournament award well before we got to the business end of the competition.
But, but, but… then came the final – the big match – the one that mattered… and who should walk out to open the batting for the Sixers but the old Ellyse Perry. At the end of the powerplay, she was 7 off 15 balls, and the lack of momentum up top was arguably a critical factor in tipping the balance of what turned out to be a very close game away from the Sixers. It shouldn’t take away from the fact that Perry obviously had an outstanding season overall, but when you buy a cake, you expect icing on the top… and for once Perry’s cake didn’t.
The New Zealand opening pair of Sophie Devine, who is ranked in our list at number 2, and Suzie Bates, ranked at 7, both had good returns, though the Adelaide Strikers’ season overall was a disappointment – their main achievement being definitive proof that packing your bowling line-up doesn’t work in T20 – you need batsmen, not a tail that starts at 3!
Elsewhere, the highest ranked English players were Heather Knight at 9, and Danni Wyatt at 13 – both seem to always play well in Australia, which could be good news for England at next year’s World Twenty20.
It is also interesting to see Sophie Molineux ranked so highly at 14 – Raf picked her as One To Watch in 2019 for the Guardian at New Year, but obviously mainly for her bowling not her batting. Arguably, Australia’s batting is so strong, they don’t need to worry too much about how well the bowlers bat, but nonetheless she is looking like she could be very useful for the Southern Stars over the next few years, maybe coming in at 7 or 8 with a couple of overs to go.
| Player | Matches | Runs | SR |
| 1. Ellyse Perry (Sydney Sixers) | 16 | 777 | 121 |
| 2. Sophie Devine (Adelaide Strikers) | 13 | 556 | 137 |
| 3. Alyssa Healy (Sydney Sixers) | 16 | 445 | 142 |
| 4. Beth Mooney (Brisbane Heat) | 16 | 486 | 128 |
| 5. Grace Harris (Brisbane Heat) | 16 | 374 | 148 |
| 6. Meg Lanning (Perth Scorchers) | 9 | 389 | 137 |
| 7. Suzie Bates (Adelaide Strikers) | 14 | 421 | 112 |
| 8. Smriti Mandhana (Hobart Hurricanes) | 13 | 318 | 145 |
| 9. Heather Knight (Hobart Hurricanes) | 13 | 374 | 122 |
| 10. Elyse Villani (Perth Scorchers) | 11 | 403 | 113 |
| 11. Rachel Priest (Sydney Thunder) | 15 | 338 | 134 |
| 12. Rachael Haynes (Sydney Thunder) | 13 | 376 | 115 |
| 13. Danni Wyatt (Melbourne Renegades) | 14 | 368 | 112 |
| 14. Sophie Molineux (Melbourne Renegades) | 14 | 354 | 115 |
| 15. Harmanpreet Kaur (Sydney Thunder) | 13 | 310 | 127 |
| 16. Ashleigh Gardner (Sydney Sixers) | 16 | 337 | 115 |
| 17. Lizelle Lee (Melbourne Stars) | 14 | 276 | 137 |
| 18. Alex Blackwell (Sydney Thunder) | 15 | 301 | 122 |
| 19. Sammy-Jo Johnson (Brisbane Heat) | 16 | 260 | 140 |
| 20. Tahlia McGrath (Adelaide Strikers) | 14 | 276 | 126 |
Batting Ranking = Runs * Strike Rate
CRICKETher 
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Well this WBBL04’s two semis, and the final, was some of the best T20 cricket you’ll see! The drama. the close last-ball finishes, it had it all! Congratulations to all four teams, who put in good accounts of themselves. It’s good to see a relatively un-fancied side like Heat triumph, as it keeps the competition unpredictable and we could now see more of these players in the international arena.
I like the way the Heat played all the way through. They were positive and fearless, like the Renegades as well. I agree that Molineux is a very exciting player with loads of potential, and we could see her cause England a few headaches, this 2019 Ashes and in the upcoming years.
A shout-out for Amy Jones too, she scored 240 runs at 118 SR (13 matches by my count). She wasn’t far off your top 20 list. She was instrumental in winning a match or two for Scorchers and her ‘keeping throughout was outstanding. Solid performance.
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I don’t think I’m alone in feeling somewhat frustrated at your constant anti-Perry sentiments! Sorry but Ellyse is the cake, icing, cherry and sprinklings on top all in one, to use your analogy. She is an absolutely wonderful player. She just has every aspect of the game down to a tee and her technique, skill and temperament are all remarkable.
Perry usually does play the holding role for Sixers whilst batting, and there are few better at it. I’d argue it was more down to less than optimal performances by Gardner and McGlashan that limited Sixers’ score, meaning DVN needed a big hitting cameo to get them up near par.
Ultimately it was Mooney’s brilliance that went a long way towards winning it for Heat. She suffered with overheating, sickness and breathing problems throughout, but overcame it all, which meant this was one of the best women’s T20 innings I’ve ever seen. Along with Grace Harris’s excellent bowling performance, and the Heat lower order getting a shift on at the death, it was enough to see Heat home with just 4 balls to spare.
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While she didn’t make a large contribution to the final, it was Josie Dooley’s mid-season inclusion in the lower middle order that turned the Heat’s season around, as it allowed them to turn good starts into defendable/winning totals instead of collapsing after the top 3 or 4 were out. Laura Harris seemed to bat more confidently with her around, too.
I really enjoyed watching Sophie Devine this season. She played slightly more conservatively than in the past, and it paid off in a far more consistent season. She then came back to NZ and provided the impetus for Wellington Blaze to defend the NZ domestic T20 title.
Ellyse Perry is the best player in the world by a considerable margin. I know she wouldn’t make the Ilford 2nd XI if Syd was selecting it, but what wouldn’t the White Ferns – or England – give to have an Ellyse Perry in their side?!
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