Ellyse Perry has been ruled out of Australia’s semifinal against West Indies after failing to recover in time from a back injury.
Australia will take on West Indies in the first ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup tomorrow at 3:00 AM (PKT) in Wellington.
The all-rounder suffered from back spasms during a game against South Africa a week ago and in the words of her captain, Meg Lanning, simply ran out of time to prove her fitness ahead of a crucial game.
“We’ll go in without her tomorrow and we’ll keep assessing her if we are to progress in the tournament,” Lanning said on match eve. “So, unfortunate for her and the team, obviously, a big blow but we feel like we’ve got some good depth to be able to cover it and we’re going to have to do that tomorrow.”
Australia have been phenomenal in this edition of the world cup, qualifying for the semifinals without dropping a single game. Although they have had some close calls, they have relied on team efforts to get them home rather than individual performances.
Lanning said there was optimism in the Australian camp that Ellyse Perry will recover in time for the final in Christchurch on April 3, should they advance, but stressed that they were focused on the semi-final with the personnel available at their disposal.
Perry’s bad luck in the knockout stages of a world cup continues after having sat out the 2020 T20 World Cup semi-final and the final on home soil through a hamstring injury sustained in the eventual champions’ last league fixture.
The 31-year-old has had another brilliant campaign herself taking five wickets in six innings, and scoring 146 runs in five innings while bagging Player of the Match awards in back-to-back fixtures against New Zealand and West Indies.
Annabel Sutherland, who had replaced Perry against Bangladesh in what is her first ODI World Cup, is likely to retain her spot. Sutherland, 20, had picked 1 for 22 and scored 26 vital unbeaten runs in that game.
