Ellyse Perry is one of Australia’s most accomplished athletes. Her record speaks for itself: she was a dual international at only sixteen years of age in both cricket and football. Given how both sports have evolved in recent years this is a feat we are unlikely to see again.
Leading into the interview she was coming back off an incredible season where she scored a record 213 not out in the historic day-night test against England, won a WBBL title, was the winner of the Belinda ClarkAward and is the ICCWomen’s Cricketer of the Year.
Off the field she is also leading the way as a role model for children around the world while also setting the bar high in business: writing a children’s book, investing in several cafes and aligning herself with some of the biggest brands around the world.
I was fortunate to be introduced to Ellyse through her husband Matt Toomua, who was another great guest on the show and a current Wallabies player.The two of them are one of the most exciting sports couples on the planet but also do some interesting things off the field.
THE PINNACLE OF WOMEN’S CRICKET
“I think women’s cricket sits a little differently to men’s cricket in terms of formats, so we don’t play a lot of test matches. The only test matches we play are against England at the moment and they are in an Ashes series. That’s combined withT20 and ODI so there’s an emphasis on the limited-overs format and that’s what we play the most. So I think with the one-day World Cup played every four years it’s probably the pinnacle at the moment. The last one was in England and the final was sold out at Lords and set a new benchmark for the sport in a lot of ways.Twenty20 has been an amazing vehicle for the sport to grow and develop and really enabled us to expose more and more people to the sport, especially young girls to take it up.”
A SHIFT IN MINDSET
“I think the older I’ve gotten and the more I’ve played that I find I’ve been more interested in leadership. I think early on I never really was conscious of it and what goes in to bringing a team together and actually performing. It’s amazing how much my eyes have opened up to that in the last couple of years particularly captaining the Sydney Sixers in the WBBL and other levels as well. I love that you become so much more invested in it and the whole team dynamic and at the end of the day it’s really just about people.”
EARLY LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP
“The big lesson I learnt early on was from Tom Sermanni who said something I’ve never forgotten. He said, “Look, I promise to always treat you fairly but I’m never going to treat you all the same because you’re all different.” That’s the essence of what I’ve tried to do with my leadership.”
This is an excerpt from Talking with Champions, New Holland Publishers; $29.99
