Australia all-rounder Ellyse Perry appears on track to be fit for Sunday’s T20 World Cup final against England.
The 35-year-old, an iconic figure in the women’s game, retired hurt with “quad awareness” in Tuesday’s first semi-final against West Indies.
Though the Australia camp offered no firm update on her fitness on Friday, Perry ran near full intensity at training and appeared untroubled during a lengthy bat in the nets.
Australia coach Shelley Nitschke suggested on Thursday that Perry could play even if below full fitness.
The evergreen Perry, who has been part of all six of Australia’s T20 World Cup-winning squads, is her country’s leading run-scorer at this World Cup with 185, including three half-centuries.
Her 56 against West Indies was also at Lord’s – the venue for Sunday’s final – and steered her side for victory from a perilous position in their chase of 171.
She is a crucial ballast in Australia’s line-up both with her experience and playing style.
She has scored at a strike-rate of 135.03 at this tournament and has been able to find the boundaries when needed. But she also has the lowest dot ball percentage (30.9%) of all batters to have scored 1,000 runs in women’s T20 internationals.
Despite becoming only an occasional bowler during the latter part of her career, she has also been effective with the ball, with four wickets in the three matches she has been used.
“She’s great,” team-mate Phoebe Litchfield said.
“She’s prepping really well and she’s the ultimate professional.
“She had a total wellness day yesterday, apparently, just getting everything right.
“As you can all imagine, she wants to be out there on Sunday and is doing everything in her ability to do that, which is the true professional that she is.”
Both Australia and England, who impressively beat South Africa in Thursday’s semi-final, are unbeaten going into the tournament finale.
It is the first time the Ashes rivals have met in a World Cup final since Australia’s 50-over win in 2022.
England have not won a World Cup since their famous win at Lord’s in 2017.
“It really feels like we’re building something,” all-rounder Charlie Dean said.
“I feel like it is the most confident I’ve personally been in an England shirt and I feel like that radiates from everyone else as well.”
