England Cricket Board’s (ECB) ambitious cricket tournament ‘The Hundred’. The names for this completely new format tournament, which is going to start this month, were written by many veterans, but in the last few weeks some players have announced to withdraw from it. In these, the latest name is associated with Australia’s prolific all-rounder Ellysse Perry, who was to be a part of women’s ‘The Hundred’. According to the information, Perry has withdrawn from the tournament citing personal reasons. Perry was included by the Birmingham Phoenix team.
The 100-ball tournament will start from July 21 with the match between Oval Invincibles and Manchester Originals. Eight teams are participating in the tournament and Perry was a part of Birmingham Phoenix as an all-rounder. 5 players including Indian women’s team captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana are also participating in the tournament. The tournament will conclude with the final on August 21.
According to the report of cricket website ESPN-Cricinfo, Perry decided to pull out of the tournament due to personal reasons. Describing this, the tournament’s women’s event head Beth Barrett-Wild is quoted as saying, “Obviously we are very disappointed that Ellyse Perry has to withdraw from ‘The Hundred’ for personal reasons. However, we fully understand his decision and wish him all the best.”
Before Perry, Phoenix also suffered a setback last month, when New Zealand’s legendary batsman Sophie Devine also withdrew from the tournament. In such a situation, due to the removal of two big stars of international cricket, difficulties have increased for this team. Young Indian sensation Shefali Verma is also in Phoenix.
Ellyse Perry is not the first Australian female cricketer to withdraw from this tournament. Prior to her, Alyssa Healy, captain Meg Lanning and Rachel Haynes also pulled out of the tournament citing the home series against India starting on September 19. The Indian team will go to Australia in September, where it will play a day-night Test match for the first time. Apart from this, ODI and T20 series will also be played in that tour.
