It's a bit of a bummer, but the game goes on: Perry on the missed hundred

 by  Cricbuzz Staff  •  Published on Fri, Jun 23, 2023, 08:23 AM

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Perry looked in sublime touch from the get-go © Getty

It was business as usual for Ellyse Perry in an Ashes Test match as she headlined a keenly-contested opening day at Trent Bridge with a fine knock of 99 to extend her dominance in these red-ball contests against England. Following on from a career-best 213 in 2017 and 116 and 76* in 2019, Perry was in her elements in Nottingham before missing out on her third Test ton by the barest of margins, a turn of events she said had been "a bummer".

Riding on Perry's batting brilliance, Australia posted 328/7 after opting to bat but the day's honours were perhaps shared when viewed from the context that the visitors had actually been 202/2 at one stage before England came fighting back into the contest.

"It was just a great tussle," Perry said at the end of day's play. "Importantly, it was a nice way for us to finish at the end there, after a pretty tricky session after the rain delay.

"If both teams look at it, I think they'd be pretty happy with today in different areas, and then there's probably other areas where one team got the upper hand over the other. So yeah, I think that's a great day of Test cricket, if it looks like that."

The veteran all-rounder was effusive in praise for England debutant Lauren Filer, who eventually ended her 153-ball stay at the crease. Filer bowled at brisk speeds through out the day and even earned an LBW decision in her favour early on against Perry when the batter was only on 10 before the DRS system detected the presence of an inside edge.

It took Filer only three overs to get on the board in Test cricket when she had Beth Mooney slashing to gully. Filer returned in the afternoon to have Perry hitting to gully off a delivery that bounced a touch extra than the batter had accounted for while looking to drive. The Australian said the thought of the impending milestone wasn't responsible for the lapse in concentration.