On Saturday, Ellyse Perry became only the seventh woman to hit a Test double century as Australia took control of the day-night Women’s Ashes Test against England on day three at the North Sydney Oval.
The 27-year-old, made an unbeaten 213 as Australia declared on 448-9, taking a first-innings lead of 168. Before this Australia had resumed on 177-5, with Perry unbeaten on 70, Perry changed the gears after dinner to hit 46 in the 50 minutes after the break, as she returned to the dressing room with 26 boundaries and one six.
Today Ellyse Perry made 213*. She also bowled a spell. She also stayed back and signed autographs and took photos with everyone who asked. You don’t get this in many other sports. Women in sport are the best. 🏏🏏🏏 pic.twitter.com/oeVElsSVa5
— LadiesWhoLeague (@LadiesWhoLeague) November 11, 2017
“It was fun, I think that’s probably the best way to describe it,” Perry said.
“I had an amazing time out there today batting with all the girls and just taking in what was such a special day – the crowd attendance, it being the pink day, day three, just a really great event for women’s cricket.”
Amazingly, it was Perry’s first score above 100 for Australia after she had passed 50 or 50 plus on 28 occasions across all three formats of the game
Perry is just the seventh double centurion in women’s Test cricket and her knock was the third highest of all time.
| Player | Span | Mat | Inns | NO | HS | Avg | 100 | 50 | 0 | 200s |
| Kiran Baluch (PAK-W) | 1998-2004 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 242 | 60 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| M Raj (IND-W) | 2002-2014 | 10 | 16 | 3 | 214 | 51 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| E Perry (AUS-W) | 2008-2017 | 7* | 11 | 4 | 213* | 61.71 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| K Rolton (AUS-W) | 1995-2009 | 14 | 22 | 4 | 209* | 55.66 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 1 |
| K Flavell (NZ-W) | 1995-1996 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 204 | 67.57 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| MAJ Goszko (AUS-W) | 2001-2006 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 204 | 43.4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| J Broadbent (AUS-W) | 1990-1998 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 200 | 109.25 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
It was the highest Test score in Australia and beat Karen Rolton’s previous mark of 209 not out as the best innings by an Australian. Perry is also the only sportsperson to have scored a Test century and scored a goal at a soccer World Cup. England’s openers survived to finish on 40-0 at close of play.Australia will retain the Ashes if they can force victory on the final day.
But a draw is on the cards as only four wickets fell on a day when bat dominated ball.
Brief Scores
ENG-W: 280 & 40/0 AUS-W: 448/9d
