It's hard to be disappointed: Ellyse Perry reflects on her 99-run knock in the women's Ashes Test

It was a grand start from the Australian team on English soil as they bossed around the hosts in the one-off women’s Ashes Test, spearheaded by ace all-rounder, Ellyse Perry, who looked solid during her stay at the crease but was unfortunate to miss her century by a whisker, falling for a prized 99.

Perry got off to a fine start and took up the heavy lifting for the Australians while being aptly supported by the likes of Beth Mooney (33), Phoebe Litchfield (23), Tahlia McGrath (61) and Ashleigh Gardner (40). Australia finished at 328/7 at Stumps on Day 1, with Annabel Sutherland unbeaten on 39 and Alana King (7*) for support at the other end.

Missing out on a century is never an easy feeling to soak in, particularly when any batter is only a run away from the milestone. However, on most occasions, we’ve seen batters walk out in the best of spirits to fight another day. As for Perry, going out to bat and putting on a show was itself an opportunity and she spoke about her battle against the England bowlers, and why she wasn’t disappointed to miss out on a hundred. 

Perry said, “So that ball just had my measure, which is totally fine. It's [The Hundred] a number, and one that we talk about a lot in cricket, but the whole experience out there today was so much fun. I've loved every opportunity. Sometimes things just go that way. It's hard to be disappointed."

She added, “It was nice to contribute. It was nice to be a part of a few really good partnerships, particularly that one with TMac [Tahlia McGrath]. It's just like any other time to get out. It's a bit of a bummer, but gosh, the game definitely goes on, and life goes on for sure."

Sharing her thoughts on the match situation, the Aussie star said, “It was just a great tussle. Importantly, it was a nice way for us to finish at the end there, after a pretty tricky session after the rain delay.”

She further added, “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."