After a day restricted to playing snippets of songs in between overs or at the fall of wickets, the ground DJ finally got to spin a full tune. England had just been demolished by Australia in the third Women’s Ashes one-dayer in Canterbury and players were milling around ahead of post-play formalities. The musical number selected for the public address system was fitting. “I just can’t get you out of my head,” sang Kylie Minogue.
This could be the theme song for Amy Jones in her relationship with Ellyse Perry. Jones is the England wicketkeeper when Sarah Taylor isn’t playing, and has recently commanded a spot even when she is. Jones forced her way into the Ashes team as an opening bat in recent weeks, making 80 and 91 against the West Indies to leave World Cup winner Lauren Winfield on the bench.
In this series though, her first ball from Perry wasn’t short enough to pull and was lobbed to the keeper. In the second she lasted three balls from Perry before chipping straight to midwicket. And in this third match on Sunday afternoon, she played out two dot balls before playing an equally tame shot straight to mid-on.
Eight deliveries, three wickets, one scoring shot. Such was the Jones record against Perry in 50-over games. But each of these three times her wicket fell to an ordinary delivery and an even more ordinary shot. Perry didn’t make this happen; if she was exerting pressure it was only by weight of reputation. Instead Jones custom-made a bunny and delivered it to Perry as though it were an Easter gift.
Jones is just the newest on that list. Like Kylie Minogue, Perry is an Australian who has dominated England over the years. Sarah Taylor may be England’s classiest bat but she has plenty of problems against one Australian bowler in particular. Perry dismissed Taylor in the 2014 Ashes Test, for a pair of ducks in the 2015 Test, and caught and bowled in the 2017 Test.
When Taylor came out to bat at Canterbury it felt like a Test match. Jones had gone in the first over. Tammy Beaumont was coming off a counterattacking century in her last start but Perry trapped her lbw in the third. With that ball having nipped in, Taylor treated her first ball accordingly. Instead it seamed away, taking her edge to the keeper.
Perry was now in everyone’s heads. Three wickets for four runs in two overs. England’s captain survived the hat-trick ball, but the next over brought only one Heather Knight run off the bat. For once the batting team would have been cursing a couple of leg-side wides, because each was another ball to face.
Perry’s fourth over saw two singles and a leg bye. Then to start the fifth, Knight tried the prod that had already brought her a couple of singles. Perry landed the ball flush on the seam, got extra bounce out of a useful deck, and took the outside edge of the angled bat. To bookend that over, Danni Wyatt tried to knock away a straight ball and missed.
Five wickets for 12 runs in five overs, then. Perry bowled a maiden, then rested after Fran Wilson cut one ball to the boundary. Five overs later Perry was back to finish her work, a touch of swing into Anya Shrubsole to squirm through the gate and onto the stumps. A maiden the next, and her seventh wicket in her final over, with Sophie Ecclestone trying to whack over mid-on. Within 23 overs of the match Perry had bowled her full allotment and reduced England to nine down.
Perry’s Canterbury was Kylie’s Glastonbury: a mid-summer masterclass that proves she’s still got it. These days Perry’s batting has become so powerful and consistent that it’s easy to sideline her work with the ball. At times in T20s she just chips in an over or two. But a new ball in helpful conditions was a different story.
Perry bowls with a rabbit leap, getting up high and coming down hard. That can produce bounce or a fuller length can find swing. She generates more pace than most and sometimes bowls with a grunt of effort to find it. “She moved the ball and attacked the pads and the outside edge,” was Knight’s succinct assessment. Players just weren’t sure which, because she hit the right spots over and over. Class and consistency paid off.
Preparation made that possible, on a ground that has a pronounced angle like Lord’s. “I had the opportunity to play a Test here a couple of years ago,” was Perry’s explanation. “I think the slope really works well for us, almost against the way you want to swing the ball. You can move the ball away against the slope.”
In 50-over cricket, Andy Bichel once took 7-20 against England and Glenn McGrath 7-15 against Namibia. Those are the only better bowling figures by Australians, after Perry beat out Shelley Nitschke’s 7-24. And that one also came against England.
Sorry, England. But as if England won’t be thinking about these things already. You don’t lose seven wickets to a bowler and then just go about your day. Like Kylie has been for so long, Ellyse has proved to be very catchy. With a Test match coming up, England need to fill their heads with another tune.