Talk about a right royal welcome.
Ellyse Perry’s arrival back in India has been treated with all due reverence this week as the Royal Challengers Bengaluru saluted their Australian champion of champions as women’s cricket’s ‘greatest’.
RCB won the second edition of the lucrative Women’s Premier League title with Perry having donned the orange cap as the WPL’s top run-scorer while also producing the league’s best ever performance (6-15 against Mumbai) with the ball.
Now having fretted that the 34-year-old might not be back in action following the hip injury she suffered in the Ashes Test, RCB were so thrilled about her arrival that the franchise celebrated with a cheesy social media post reflecting “the GOAT is here”.
The modest Perry even starred in it with a grin, while looking just a mite embarrassed.
There’s actually still concern around whether she’s quite ready yet to take her place in the team on Friday (Saturday AEDT) when the WPL kicks off with, potentially, seven Australian internationals featuring in the tournament opener between RCB and Gujarat Giants in Vadodara.
Indeed, once again, the third edition of the five-team event will have a major Aussie influence, with Ash Gardner, top-ranked ODI allrounder in the game at the moment, now captaining the Giants.
Beth Mooney, leading scorer in the recent Ashes series, has stepped down as captain to concentrate on her batting and keeping while handing over the reins to her international teammate.
Meanwhile, Meg Lanning, the women’s game’s greatest captain, may have stepped down from international duties in 2023, but she’s still got the appetite, enthusiasm and unfailing batting talent to lead the Delhi Capitals, hoping to make it third time lucky after being beaten in the two previous finals by Mumbai Indians and RCB.
“We’ve had two good seasons without obviously being able to finish it off the way we would have liked in winning the title,” Lanning, who’s been warming up back home in fine 50-over form in the WNCL.
“I guess the key for us is maintaining what we’ve been doing well. We feel like we’re in a really good spot, so it’s about not changing too much. We’ve been doing a lot right. It’s just some small things here and there to to take us to the next step.”
The 32-year-old Lanning is the tournament’s highest run-scorer over its two editions with 676 in total, and her peerless opening partnership with the dynamic Shafali Verma remains the biggest weapon.
Now she’ll be hoping for the ever-improving Belinda Clark Award winner Annabel Sutherland, fresh from her Ashes heroics, to really step up in this edition too for the trophy-starved Capitals.
AUSTRALIANS IN 2025 WPL ACTION
Gujarat Giants: Ash Gardner (captain), Beth Mooney, Phoebe Litchfield
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Ellyse Perry, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Georgia Wareham.
Delhi Capitals: Meg Lanning (captain), Jess Jonassen, Annabel Sutherland
UP Warriorz: Alana King, Grace Harris, Tahlia McGrath.
Content Source: www.perthnow.com.au