Legendary Australia all rounder Ellyse Perry shuts down retirement speculations amid knee injury concerns

Ellyse Perry. (Photo Source: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

When it comes to Women’s cricket, there have been only a few who have revolutionized a whole new generation of young girls to take up the game and find inspiration through them to realize their dreams. But what is more incredible is the fact that there have been some exceptional athletes who have excelled in more than one sports and have inspired others to try achieve their dreams of representing their country beyond the sports they first took up. Ellyse Perry is one such female with exceptional calibre of playing more than one sports and doing commendably well for Australia.

Perry who first started her sports journey with the beautiful game of Football, where she scored a goal in a World Cup quarter final game against Sweden in 2011 and then took up Cricket. What followed next is all we know is incredible history. However, like every game, after a certain point of time, once a player has achieved many glories over the years, people start talking about their possible retirement.

Ellyse Perry, who is a legend of Women’s cricket made her debut at just 16 years old in 2007. Since then, she has won multiple world cups and still continues to come hard at her opponents. Albeit, of late she has been facing some injury issues with her knee, and given that she has had a very long career now, the speculation of retirement has already started. However, she seems quite unfazed with it and looks all determined to carry on playing for Australia.

In the same vein, recently, she came forward to share her views on her possible retirement plans. The 32-year-old is currently nursing a knee injury which she picked up while playing against Ireland in the recently concluded ODI series. Perry is confident of bouncing back and shrugged away any retirement possibilities by saying that she is focussed on playing ahead for Australia and does not really believes in age number.

“It is pure speculation to know what happens in a couple years’ time but from my perspective, I still love being involved. In terms of motivation, it’s still exactly the same, if not more. In a lot of senses, it’s (women’s sport) arrived and things just become more and more exciting every year,” Perry was quoted as saying by Cricket Australia.

The crowd numbers that we drew, it’s hard not to want to be involved: Perry

Furthermore, reflecting on her recent Women’s Ashes 2023 experiences, the legendary Australia all-rounder cherished the fact that they played a very intense yet competitive cricket against England women. Moreover, they were able to witness a record attendance during the whole series, which certainly defines a new era in Women’s sport. Hence, Ellyse Perry is proud of it and believes that is one of the biggest motivation for her to carry on playing cricket for as long she can. Recently, she even went on to sign a two-year contract with the Women’s Big Bash League franchise, Sydney Sixers, amid injury concerns.

“After our Ashes campaign over in the UK and the way that that was followed, the crowd numbers that we drew, the level of competition that it presented – it’s hard not to want to be involved for as long as possible,” the Sydney-born concluded.