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After mentoring Lucknow Super Giants to a top-four finish in the IPL in their maiden outing, former India batter Gautam Gambhir has been elevated to the role of “global mentor” by the Sanjiv Goenka-led RPSG Group. That means Gambhir will also mentor the Durban Super Giants franchise in the new SA20 competition – a team that the RPSG Group acquired in July 2022 – in addition to his role with the Lucknow franchise.”He is one of the sharpest cricketing minds going around,” a statement from the RPSG Group read. “The group feels he can not only add value in Indian conditions but across the cricketing map as well.”Gambhir, a two-time IPL winning captain, was present in the dug out for all of Super Giants’ games in the IPL, and was a key member of the Lucknow franchise’s think-tank at the auction too. He was visible in the field during strategic time outs and regularly addressed the team in post-match dressing room debriefs as well.”In my ideology of a team sport, designations don’t play much role,” Gambhir was quoted as saying in the statement. “At best, they are there to facilitate a process to make a team win. As a global mentor of Super Giants I look forward to some added responsibility.”My intensity and passion to win have just got international wings. It will be a proud moment to see the Super Giants family leave a global imprint. I thank Super Giants family for showing that faith in me. Guess it’s time for some more sleepless nights.”Gambhir will now also be working closely with the Durban franchise’s head coach Lance Klusener. On Friday, Klusener stepped down as batting coach of the Zimbabwe men’s team to “pursue professional engagements around the globe.”The Durban franchise has a few other crossovers from the Lucknow team, with Quinton de Kock, Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers part of both teams. Those three were among five players signed up by the franchise ahead the SA20 auction, while the likes of Reece Topley, Dwaine Pretorius, Heinrich Klaasen, Keemo Paul, Keshav Maharaj, Kyle Abbott, Dilshan Madushanka and Wiaan Mulder were added during the auction.The inaugural edition of the SA20 competition starts on January 10 next year and will be a 33-match competition featuring sides representing Durban, Johannesburg, Paarl, Cape Town, Pretoria and Gqeberha. All six teams have been bought by owners of IPL teams.

Scotland spinner Mark Watt has signed a contract to play all formats for Derbyshire during the 2023 season, either side of his international commitments.Watt has played regularly for Derbyshire on a number of short-term deals since 2019. He was a key member of the side that reached the quarter-finals of the 2022 T20 Blast, taking 13 wickets with an economy of 8.46 – the team’s best.He again impressed for Scotland at the T20 World Cup, taking 3 for 12 in their win over West Indies, after which he spoke about using a “cheat sheet” on batter’s strengths and weaknesses.”Mark’s attention to detail is what makes him such an exciting cricketer, he’s always taking notes and is meticulous in his preparation for matches, that’s something which will be key for us in all formats next season,” Derbyshire’s head of cricket, Mickey Arthur, said.”It’s that little bit of aggression and innovation which can make all the difference in big games, Mark has both of those qualities in abundance.”He’s an international spinner who has faced some of the world’s best players, he showed at the World Cup he can trouble anyone and we’re really pleased to have Mark back with us for 2023.”Watt also featured for Derbyshire in the Royal London Cup in 2022, as well as playing first-class cricket for first time since 2017. He has made just seven first-class appearances overall but played three times in the County Championship, taking nine wickets at 35.22.Watt said: “I really enjoyed my time with Derbyshire in 2022, so it was an easy decision to come back for next season. You could see from the progress we made last season that we’re building something, and the opportunity to contribute for the club across all formats is something I’m really excited about.”

Glenn Phillips and Mitchell Santner have thrown their support behind struggling captain Kane Williamson, backing him to come good “at some point”. Williamson’s performance came under scrutiny after New Zealand lost to England by 20 runs in Brisbane. The New Zealand captain faced 40 balls, and scored as many runs, taking his tally at this World Cup to 71 off 76; not once during this time has he batted at better than a run-a-ball in any innings.The length of time he was at the crease on Tuesday – this is the most number of balls he has faced in a T20I since the 2021 T20 World Cup final – only served to further highlight how much the chase was hampered by a batter who was struggling to keep up with the asking rate. He managed just three boundaries, particularly struggling to get away the slower bowlers, as he has done for the most part of the year.It also highlighted the difference in approach England and New Zealand took to pacing their innings. While Dawid Malan was used as a floater when England realised they needed more power up top – he eventually came in at No.8 – Williamson batted at No.3. The asking rate ballooned to just under 12 when Williamson was dismissed in the 15th over.That it was still in touch was thanks largely to Phillips’ 62 off 36 and he resolutely backed his captain. “Kane’s gold at three for us,” he said. “He understands situations and I know he had a little bit of a tough day today. But with his experience, the ability to take a game deep and command the middle overs is crucial. To be able to have myself, [James] Neesham, Daryl [Mitchell], as well as [Mitchell] Santner doing our role at the end, having Kane doing what he’s doing at the moment. We know that he’s going to come right at some point, he always does and we can’t necessarily judge him by one game. England bowled really well to him and they shut down his areas. Next game he could very easily get 50 off 20 balls as well so we back him fully.”Santner, too, put it down the way England bowled than any struggles Williamson might have had.Kane Williamson struggled to accelerate at the Gabba•Getty Images

“I think it’s the way England bowled,” he said. “They bowled very well through the middle there. The spinners bowled very well at Kane. If you look at the partnership, Glenn was going pretty good, and Kane was playing the anchor. We got ourselves into a good position five or six out, and I think there was a couple of quality overs from Sam Curran and Chris Woakes that took it away from us in the end.”But I think the English spinners did a great job as well. They had three. I thought Mo [Moeen Ali] probably could have bowled a couple more overs after watching that first one. I think they kind of adjusted pretty well to the surface, a lot of cutters into it.”Phillips also suggested the pacing of the innings might have been pre-planned as part of the style in which New Zealand play T20I cricket. “We try to stick to our batting blueprint as we went,” he said. “We had the wickets in hand to try and do it but obviously the Gabba is a big ground and it’s not exactly like you can just target one end.Related

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“Even the small end is still 70 metres or so, so it does require a lot of effort and, and you need a lot of things to go your way to be able to chase whatever it was off the last seven overs. Unfortunately it didn’t go our way today. We tried our best but credit to the England bowlers for how they bowled it at the death, though. They took it away from our hitting zones.”Santner, though, admitted New Zealand might have back-loaded too much, even if the wicket was slower than New Zealand anticipated. “We did kind of leave it late, but we had wickets in hand try to make a surge at the end. I think Neesham and a few others got dismissed and it kind of got away from us.”I think, if you look at the position we got ourselves in, it was a good one. I guess the run rate might have been at 12s, but we still had a few wickets in the tank. But I think credit goes to the way England bowled there at the end. Woakes and Sam Curran made it tough to score, and if you can chip wickets out at the end, it kind of dents the momentum.”

Temba Bavuma will captain South Africa’s Test team amid sweeping changes to the set-up in the post Mark Boucher era. Bavuma’s first assignment will be to lead the side in the two-match Test series against West Indies, starting on February 28, which will be part of the WTC.Bavuma takes over from Dean Elgar, who was named Test captain in mid-2021 and won his first four series, including a home series win over India, but lost in England and Australia. Bavuma will also continue as ODI captain but has relinquished the T20I job, following South Africa’s group-stage exits at the last two T20 World Cups.In Tests, Bavuma will team up with coach Shukri Conrad, whom he credited with helping him revive his ODI game. He scored a match-winning century against England in a series victory in January, which kept South Africa’s hopes of direct qualification for this year’s ODI World Cup alive.”We trust he [Bavuma] will deliver on all our expectations and help carry the team forward after some excellent work by his predecessor Dean during the same period,” Enoch Nkwe, CSA’s director of cricket, said. “At the same time, I would like to sincerely thank Dean for all his commitment to the role over the past two years. He helped the team navigate through some stormy waters and put them in good position on the ICC World Test Championship table.”Both men have made us proud with the work they have done within the wider Proteas group and look forward to the next step in what is a new era for the Proteas under the leadership of dual coaches Shukri Conrad and Rob Walter.”Speaking at the SA20 debrief, former South Africa captain Graeme Smith, who is the league’s commissioner, said any new captain would have a daunting task ahead. “The important part is for them to understand the strategy of how they’re going to get our team playing well again and dominating the world again,” he said. “That is going to be the most important part. All people in these types of leadership positions are going to have a strong buy-in with the key administrators who can help them grow the game and get better: from the selectors to the director of cricket to the CEO to some of the board members. That support, and that structure and the alignment of the strategy, is so important. They need to invest in that and take things on.”

Van der Dussen dropped, Markram recalled

South Africa’s Test squad saw several changes from the one that lost their last two series. Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne and Lungi Ngidi were left out of the squad, while opener Sarel Erwee was informed that he was no longer part of the red-ball plans after scoring one century but averaging 26.61 in his ten Tests. That opened the door for Aiden Markram’s return after he was dropped in England. Theunis de Bruyn was also told he was no longer required, which prompted his international retirement on Thursday.Rassie van der Dussen last played a Test in December in Australia•AFP/Getty Images

Markram will face competition from Western Province opener Tony de Zorzi, who earned his maiden call-up. De Zorzi is currently the leading run-scorer in CSA’s four-day division 1 series tallying 489 runs with a best of 304 not out.Keegan Petersen returned after recovering from a hamstring injury, and Ryan Rickelton was also included despite carrying a severe ankle injury that required surgery. He too has had a good run in the four-day tournament, scoring 240 runs in four innings with the help of two centuries.The squad will assemble in Centurion on February 24 and the first Test will start on February 28 in Centurion.South Africa squad for West Indies Tests: Temba Bavuma (capt), Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Dean Elgar, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Anrich Nortje, Keegan Petersen, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton

JP Duminy is set to be appointed batting coach

There are also changes to South Africa’s coaching set-up. JP Duminy is in discussions to take over as batting coach and will replace Justin Sammons, who was in the role under former coach Boucher. Duminy is currently the head coach of Boland, who are sixth in Division One of the four-day competition and finished in the same position in the One-Day Cup, and he also coached Paarl Royals, who lost in the semi-finals of the SA20.The selection panel, too, has been restructured. Victor Mpitsang and Patrick Moroney, who were in the jobs of selection convener and selector respectively, have been released. Among their more controversial decisions was the inclusion of Simon Harmer in the Manchester Test, which changed a winning attack from Lord’s and forced South Africa to bat first on a seamer-friendly pitch.CSA is reviewing the selection committee procedures. In the interim, the head coaches of the respective teams will play a leading role in squad selections.

Young quick Jordan Buckingham claimed six wickets to give Australia A a marginal first-innings lead in their unofficial Test against a New Zealand side.On the finest day of his first-class career, Buckingham took 6 for 58 to help dismiss New Zealand A for 246 in reply to Australia A’s 253.The visitors then went to stumps on day two of four in Canterbury at 59 for 1, with Matt Renshaw on 20 and Campbell Kellaway 29.But the day belonged to 23-year-old Buckingham, who was a late call-up to the tour squad after Joel Paris was injured. He claimed the first six wickets of New Zealand A’s innings, moving the ball subtly and claiming outside edges at will.His pick of the deliveries was a hooping in-swinger to Tom Bruce, taking the right-hander’s outside edge to have him caught at slip by Renshaw.The return marked Buckingham’s first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket, after he made his debut for South Australia at the end of the 2022-23 season.Legspinner Mitchell Swepson also bagged two wickets in the innings while Renshaw claimed 2 for 32 with his offspinners.

Look out, Ahmedabad. Mumbai Indians are coming. The five-time champions put on a clinic to rout Lucknow Super Giants on Wednesday night and march into Qualifier 2. They are now two wins away from lifting a trophy they might soon trademark.Akash Madhwal was the star of the show, picking up the joint-best figures by an Indian in IPL history – 5 for 5 in 3.3 overs. He might have taken more but Super Giants kept running themselves out in ridiculous ways. One was the result of a collision, it ended their best batter’s stay at the crease, Marcus Stoinis gone for 40 off 27. Another had both players at the same end.Super Giants fell from 74 for 3 to 101 all out in a chase of 183.

Mumbai’s boundary bash

Mumbai do the little things right. They saw the opposition opening the bowling with spin and exploited the fact that only two men are allowed outside the 30-yard circle. Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan hit four fours in the first three overs – all just placed into gaps behind point and past fine leg because they knew that would be enough. These were the conditions that were supposed to stop the biggest hitters in the IPL. But they didn’t. Mumbai cruised to 98 for 2, the third-highest 10-over score in Chennai this year. They hit 15 boundaries in this period.2:08

Moody: ‘Naveen has three versions of the slower offcutter’

Naveen intervenes

Cameron Green and Suryakumar Yadav were not just clearing the boundary, they were spraying the second tier. This season, a few teams have experimented with three openers in their line-up. They come into play when there’s an early wicket. They stay in the hut when there isn’t. Mumbai are one of these teams and it helped them keep a very healthy tempo. They were on course to clear 200.That’s when Naveen-ul-Haq came on and did the simple thing right. At Chepauk, everybody needs to take pace off. Including the fast bowlers. After getting bashed for a first-ball six in the 11th over, he slipped in a legcutter to Suryakumar and had him caught on the straight boundary, and two balls later, an offcutter gripped in the pitch and bowled Green through the gate.Naveen, the Afghanistan quick, celebrated each of his four wickets by putting his fingers in ears, perhaps a response to the hate he’s received on social media for his part in the blow-up with Virat Kohli earlier in the tournament.1:19

Manjrekar: ‘Brilliant move to have Wadhera come in as Impact sub’

The impact of the Impact Sub

Mumbai had gone in a batter light in their bat-first XI. The logic was that if they needed the guy, they would sub him in for someone who was already dismissed.Which is exactly what happened. Nehal Wadhera walked in as Suryakumar’s substitute to face the last 21 balls of the innings.If they hadn’t needed him, they might have brought in an extra spinner to help defend whatever total they got. Mumbai kept both options open. It’s a fun way to use the Impact Sub. It’s not formulaic.Wadhera played a massive role. He came in at a time when Mumbai had managed only 30 runs in the previous 4.2 overs. And he smashed 23 off 12, including two fours and a six in the final over.

Madhwal stands tall

Madhwal went to Mumbai for INR 20 lakh. Money extremely well spent.He wasn’t part of Plan A. An entire month had gone by before he played his first game, and there he went for 37 runs in three overs. Two of them were at the death.Madhwal has bowled 129 balls this season. Fifty-one of them have been in overs 17 to 20. A rookie has been bowling 40% of his deliveries in the hardest phase of a T20 game while maintaining an economy rate of 7.5. Only one fast bowler has done better (min 18 deliveries) and he belonged to the opposition – Mohsin Khan.Madhwal’s biggest impact in this game, though, came in the middle overs when he picked up two wickets in two balls, including an absolute peach from around the wicket, angling into the left-handed Nicholas Pooran and nipping away off the pitch to have him caught behind.Seventeen dots in 21 balls and five wickets for five runs. Nobody had done this much damage in the entire history of IPL playoff matches. Most teams wouldn’t be able to recover from losing bowlers of the class of Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer.Mumbai aren’t most teams.

Yorkshire young guns Finlay Bean and George Hill posted superb centuries – 114 and 101 respectively – to ensure their side dominated the opening day of the LV= Insurance County Championship clash with Gloucestershire at Headingley.Left-handed opener Bean faced 153 balls for his second century of the Division Two season – and the second of the 21-year-old’s fledgling career. It was the main contribution in Yorkshire’s 393 for 6 from 91 overs.He shared a stand of 57 with Dawid Malan for the third wicket during the morning and then 153 for the fourth either side of lunch with fellow up and comer George Hill, who then faced 180 balls and shared 111 for the fifth wicket with Jonny Tattersall.It was allrounder Hill’s first century of the summer, with Gloucestershire too loose with the Kookaburra ball having been asked to bowl in excellent batting conditions.Left-arm seamer Taylor stood out like a sore thumb amongst his colleagues with three for 43 from 17 overs, including Tattersall late on for 79. Five overs were lost to evening rain.Play was watched by Yorkshire’s new chair Harry Chathli and also their former County Championship title-winning coach Jason Gillespie, the Australian bowling legend who was triumphant with the county in 2014 and 2015.He is back in the UK for the Ashes and back at Headingley for the first time since leaving. Things have changed dramatically since Gillespie departed at the end of 2016, his side having just missed out on a third successive Championship title to Middlesex.Not only has there been upheaval off the field, results have fallen drastically on it as well, highlighted by this being a Division Two encounter.Only Adam Lyth and Matthew Fisher from the current side played four-day cricket during the Australian legend’s golden tenure.But the performances of two young players who were only playing county age-group during Gillespie’s tenure should serve as indication of future promise.Lyth’s opening partner Bean, 21, was playing for Yorkshire Under 14s during Gillespie’s last year in 2016 and Hill for the Under 15s.Bean has enjoyed an encouraging start to life in senior cricket having returned to the club last summer following a brief break to go and work as a mechanic.He earned a rookie contract on the back of a record-breaking 441 in the second team last year and made his first-team bow in August.He played a trio of Championship matches last September, but was a first choice starter at the beginning of April and scored 118 in the opening round defeat here against Leicestershire.Bean watched on from the non-striker’s end as three senior partners departed before lunch, including Lyth and captain Shan Masood within four balls to Taylor as the score slipped to 33 for 2 in the sixth over. Lyth edged to second slip trying to leave alone before Masood was trapped lbw for a three-ball duck.Bean shared 57 with another left-hander, Dawid Malan, who looked in good order for 28 before being caught behind down leg trying pull Ben Charlesworth’s seam – 90 for 3 in the 17th.But Gloucestershire’s good early work was eroded thanks to their inability to limit the fours, especially to the short boundary towards the East Stand side of this ground.Hill, 22, is more advanced in his development than Bean – a right-hander particularly strong against spin. Hill has been frustrated by his inability to build on starts over the last couple of seasons. But he did here. This was his best of four times beyond 50 in the Championship this season.Bean reached his century off 140 balls midway through the afternoon. But he only faced 13 more deliveries and fell caught at deep square-leg pulling at Zaman Akhter – 243 for 4 in the 53rd over.After tea, Hill moved into the nineties and took Yorkshire beyond 300 by helping Tattersall take 19 from the 72nd over against Gohar, including a slog-swept six over midwicket.He reached his century off 177 balls before falling caught behind off Ollie Price’s offspin. And when Taylor, now bowling with the new ball, had Tattersall caught at second slip, Yorkshire were 368 for 6 after 86 overs.

For the second time in two Qualifiers, Zimbabwe have fallen short at the final hurdle, and as a result they won’t be at the 2023 World Cup. They needed to win one of their last two matches, just as in 2018, and they failed to do it, just as in 2018.It’s a fascinating quirk of sport that hindsight can completely colour the view of an event. When Scotland were being strangled by Zimbabwe’s bowlers throughout their innings, barely managing to keep their run rate at above four an over, it looked like Zimbabwe had by far the better of the proceedings.When Scotland somehow clawed together a total of 234, courtesy a burst of 54 runs in the last five overs, it looked like they had got up to a fighting total but not one that would realistically trouble an in-form Zimbabwe batting line-up littered with experience – especially in front of a home crowd that has been electric all tournament.But when Chris Sole’s express pace sent Joylord Gumbie, Craig Ervine and Sean Williams packing inside the first seven overs – the first caught behind, the other two clean bowled – that innings-long strangle began to take on a different sheen, one instead of steely resolve. And when all was said and done it was Zimbabwe that blinked first, falling 31 runs short, as Scotland knocked them out in dramatic fashion.If ever there was a team victory, it was this. Before Sole’s heroics, there were no less than six batters pitching in for 20 runs at least, on a sticky surface in Bulawayo, of which Michael Leask was the pick of the bunch with a 34-ball 48 .Leask aside, only Brandon McMullen (34 off 34) and Mark Watt (21 off 15) scored at even a 70-plus strike rate of the six batters who passed 20. But they ensured that Scotland ticked off the most important box on surfaces like this: they batted through their 50 overs.Then, with the ball, every one of the six bowlers used picked up at least one wicket, driving home the team ethos. Together they weathered a Ryan Burl-led counterattack, which included fifth- and sixth-wicket stands of 54 and 73 with Sikandar Raza and Wesley Madhevere – both partnerships ticking along at nearly a run a ball. The required rate throughout all this was just a touch above four. The pressure was on the Scottish bowlers, but they never lost hope, knowing that a wicket would change the game’s complexion. And so it proved.In an innings filled with wickets falling to good balls, Raza holing out at long-off would go down as an unforced error. It was at this moment that Scotland may have begun to believe.But then Madhevere – a player who hadn’t played an innings of note all tournament – strung together the game’s biggest partnership with Burl, as the pair found the odd boundary and milked the ones and twos. Enter Mark Watt, who had earlier stitched together 21 from 15, and he got one to grip and turn, trapping Madhevere in front to grab his only wicket of the game.This left Burl with just the tail for company. Burl soldiered on to a career best 83 off 84, but it wouldn’t be enough. With 38 needed off the last 11.3 overs, and with only two wickets remaining, he mistimed a slog-sweep to midwicket, having dispatched the previous two deliveries for four and six. In a game with so much on the line, such heartbreaks were inevitable.None more so than for Williams, the standout player of the tournament, with 600 runs at an average of exactly 100. He received a corker from Sole. This was a moment tailor-made for Williams but in life there are things you cannot quite account for – a 149kph thunderbolt nipping back in at your off peg being one of them.On the flip side of heartbreak is euphoria. Scotland had now beaten three Full Member teams in this tournament. Had they lost today, they would not have had the chance to play ODIs for another year at the least.They’ve topped league two on the way to these qualifiers, beaten sides more vaunted than them, and now have to go once more on Thursday against Netherlands. If they do what they need to do, they’ll have a whole lot more cricket to gear up for.

Only 40 overs were possible on the opening day of the 2023 Cheltenham Festival where Glamorgan closed on 152 for 2 in their LV= Insurance County Championship match with Gloucestershire.Rain and bad light frustrated players and spectators at the College Ground after an opening stand of 111 between David Lloyd and Zain ul Hassan, who batted through the morning session.Lloyd led the way with an exuberant 81 off 102 balls, with 13 fours, while ul Hassan contributed a solid if less fluent 30 from 103 deliveries.Off-spinner Zafar Gohar and seamer Tom Price were the Gloucestershire wicket-takers after they had lost the toss. The hosts gave a first-class debut to 19-year-old Joe Phillips and had seamer Paul Meekeren playing for them in a Championship game for the first time.Lloyd looked in excellent touch from the outset on what appeared a true batting pitch. The Glamorgan skipper had just two worrying moments in making his way to an attractive half-century off 57 balls, with 10 fours.The first came when he was struck a stunning blow on the helmet by a short ball from van Meekeren with his score on 33 in the 16th over. The impact saw pieces fly off the helmet and play was held up while Lloyd was checked over. He was soon deemed fit to carry on, but had an escape on 44 when dropped at point by Price, diving two-handed to his right, off the bowling of seamer Dom Godman.By lunch, which was taken at 100 for no wicket off 29 overs, Lloyd had progressed to 65 not out, while ul Hassan had struck five fours in his 30.Price had looked the pick of the Gloucestershire bowlers, conceding only seven runs from his opening spell of six overs. But it was Gohar, introduced just before lunch, who made a much-needed breakthrough shortly after the interval.Without adding to his score, ul Hassan went across his stumps to glance a ball from the spinner, failed to get a touch, and fell lbw. Nelson had struck as the scoreboard, which had stopped working for much of the morning session, registered 111.The first rain break came soon after 2pm, with Lloyd having moved onto 80. Tea was taken at 3.15pm and 18 overs were lost before the resumption at 4pm.Having added only a single to his score, Lloyd fell leg before to Price, aiming to play into the leg side off the back foot, his chances of a century having been hampered by the interruption to play.It was 122 for 2 and Gloucestershire thought they had taken a third wicket seven runs later when Sam Northeast, on three, played a ball from van Meekeren to gully where Price claimed what would have been a sensational low one-handed catch, diving to his left.The home players grouped to celebrate, but the experienced Northeast stood his ground and after consultation, umpires Neil Pratt and Chris Watts ruled him not out. Words were exchanged between van Meekeren and Northeast before the over was concluded and tempers cooled.Colin Ingram brought up the Glamorgan 150 with a pulled four off Price before bad light and drizzle sent the players off at just after 4.20pm. The rain then became steadier and the umpires called off play for the day at shortly before 5.30pm.

Australia cricket superstar Ellyse Perry could easily have found herself playing alongside Sam Kerr and the other Matildas at the Women’s World Cup.An equally gifted footballer, Perry made her international debut at 16 – playing her first match for Australia against Hong Kong in 2007.The brilliant cricket allrounder made her first World Cup appearance during the 2011 tournament in Germany, scoring the Matildas’ only goal in the 3-1 quarter-final loss to Sweden.The 32-year-old earned 18 caps and scored three goals for Australia between 2007 and 2012.Related

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Primarily a defender, Perry also enjoyed a glittering career in domestic soccer playing for Central Coast Mariners, Canberra United and Sydney FC with teammates Kerr and Caitlin Foord.She competed at the International Women’s Club Championship with Sydney FC in 2013, when the squad defeated Japan’s WE League club NTV Beleza 1-0 but lost 3-2 to Chelsea.But as her sporting paths crossed, she sacrificed her soccer trajectory for the bat-and-ball game with her cricketing career exploding into superstardom from 2014.Perry went on to win eight world titles with Australia, 11 Women’s National Cricket League championships with NSW, and two Women’s Big Bash League titles with the Sydney Sixers.She is now delighted to see her former Matildas team-mates take the football world – and the Australian sporting public – by storm.”I don’t think we’ve ever really seen anything like this,” Perry said on Thursday. “The level that they’re playing at, the style that they’re playing, the amazing entertainment that they are.”Just to see what those girls have done for not only their team but for this sport and for women’s sport – it’s just been a phenomenal tournament.”Perry did not want to forget the achievements made by female athletes before the Matildas’ World Cup fever swept the nation.”There’s lots of precedent for this,” she said. “Traditionally, the Women’s Big Bash League has been the fourth most-watched sporting competition in the country – it seems a long time ago but back in 2020 we had 86,000 at the MCG.”It’s been a really steady evolution for women’s sport for a long period of time. “[General society] is shifting in line with a real push towards equality but also how much we value the incredible skill and endeavour of all of our female athletes and what they’re able to achieve.”Perry hopes the momentum around the World Cup can help the growth of domestic competitions.”We’ve got an amazing platform to be more successful and have more of a mark on the sporting landscape in Australia,” she said. “The product is there. Now it’s just about providing a platform for fans to be able to come along and have a really enjoyable time.”The next frontier for us is to make sure that we’re able to fill those stadiums.”Perry is currently recovering from a knee injury sustained last month in Ireland and meant she was withdrawn from the Hundred but is hopeful of being ready for the start of the domestic season in late September.