Ellyse Perry unhappy with Australia women’s lean home schedule

Ellyse Perry has expressed disappointment over Australia women’s limited home schedule this summer, with the team set for a five-month international hiatus after six white-ball matches. Perry said the packed global calendar has made it difficult to play before home fans

Brisbane: Star all-rounder Ellyse Perry on Wednesday expressed disappointment over the Australian women’s cricket team’s light schedule during the home season, adding that the absence of international fixtures during the peak months is a sad development.

Australia, the world’s top-ranked ODI and T20I side, will feature in six white-ball matches over the next fortnight — three ODIs against Bangladesh, followed by as many T20Is against New Zealand. But after this, Australia will enter a five-month international hiatus at home until March, leaving fans without seeing the team in action during the traditional peak summer period.

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“I think everyone at the moment feels the challenge from a scheduling perspective that we’re not able to play probably in the peak months this summer when people are really tuned into cricket.

“Kids are on holidays, people are off work, so yeah, there’s a challenge for sure, because our team has been largely successful and we have got some support from fans around the country,” Ellyse said to reporters in Brisbane ahead of Australia’s opening ODI against Bangladesh on Friday.

While the Australian women face a lean home summer, the men’s national side has a packed calendar comprising 12 international games, including three ODIs and five T20Is against England starting November 13, followed by a four-Test series against New Zealand running from December 9 to January 8.

Ellyse acknowledged that the dense calendar, packed with franchise competitions such as the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) and the Women’s Premier League (WPL) in India, has intensified scheduling constraints.

“We just don’t have enough opportunity to play in front of our fans because it’s a really jam-packed schedule. But hopefully, at least in the women’s game, we can create more opportunities to play at home,” she added.

Turning her attention to the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh, Ellyse noted that the team would need to adjust quickly due to playing limited 50-over cricket in recent months.

“We haven’t played a lot of one-day cricket recently, and even looking over the next 24 months, it’s going to be sporadic when we drop into one-day cricket as a group.

“But I think our ethos is the same. There’s obviously some nuance in the format, the period of time you spend either at the crease or bowling, but I really hope that translates (across).”

With the next Women’s ODI World Cup happening in 2029, Ellyse stated that the team remains motivated to continuously evolve its approach.

“There’s a one-day World Cup at the back end of this decade, which I think, having not had success in the last one, everyone will be looking towards. A lot changes in a couple of years in women’s cricket, so I think we’ve got to keep trying to push that where we want to take that style of cricket to,” she concluded.