Ellyse Perry had a moment of madness she’d love to forget as Australia clinched their T20 series against New Zealand with a 29-run win in Mackay. Alyssa Healy (38 off 25) and Perry (34 off 34) helped Australia get off to a strong start before a shocking collapse of 7-28 saw the visitors bowled out for a mediocre 142 in the 20th over.
New Zealand would have backed themselves to end a grim run of defeats by chasing down the Aussie total but could only muster 7-113 from their 20 overs as their losing streak in T20Is extended to nine games. Ash Gardner – who was ruled out of the opening game due to a freak mishap with a teammate in the warm-up – did the bulk of the damage after taking 3-16 with the ball to stop the charge from the Kiwi side.
The 29-run victory followed the world champion Aussies’ comfortable five-wicket win in the first game. And it came off the back of a promising start to Australia’s innings, with Healy and Perry putting the accelerator down after opener Beth Mooney was bowled for 10. The pair put on 43 before Healy fell to Eden Carson after belting six boundaries in her quick-fire innings.
It was the next wicket of Perry that ultimately sparked the collapse from the visitors and left the Aussie superstar and commentators baffled. The star allrounder was struck on the toe attempting to sweep the ball away and didn’t see where the ball ended up so she took off down the wicket for a run.
Ellyse Perry in moment of madness against New Zealand
The only problem was, the ball had gone straight into the gloves of Kiwi wicketkeeper Isabella Gaze, who couldn’t believe her luck as she whipped the bails off to leave Perry inexplicably stranded. “Ellyse Perry, what are you doing?” One commentator on Fox Cricket exclaimed as the Aussie batter walked off in disbelief.
Perry looking like a cricket video game npc just walking out of her crease for no reason then the snap turnaround.
— cra1g 🙂 (@Dublin_Dragon) September 22, 2024
“Probably not the prettiest, but those are pretty important wins to prepare us for what’s to come,” Australian allrounder Annabel Sutherland said after the victory. “I’m pretty proud of the group; the way they stuck together with the ball and found a way to win pretty comfortably in the end. We didn’t quite get the total we were after but … a win’s a win.”
New Zealand bowler Amelia Kerr’s career-best spell (4-20) had given the home side hope after Healy and Perry’s knocks lay the foundations for Australia. The spinner knocked over Gardner before taking three wickets in her final over as the Aussies were bowled out for a total that didn’t quite seem to be enough.
But Gardner (3-16 from four overs) had other ideas after being wiped out of the series-opening win with concussion, taking key wickets at various stages to stop the New Zealanders getting any sort of momentum. Phoebe Litchfield and Sophie Molineux also took sharp catches to dismiss key pair Suzie Bates (34 off 34) and Sophie Devin (four off 10) and send the Aussies towards victory.
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The visitors did have more than just Perry’s brain explosion to forget, with Megan Schutt dropping a sitter at point late in the game, while several run-outs also went begging in a fielding display they’ll be keen to sharpen up. Australia holds an unassailable 2-0 lead with the two teams set to complete the series at Brisbane’s Allan Border Field on Tuesday, before departing for next month’s World Cup in the UAE.
with AAP
