Hopefully Women’s T20 final will have a flow-on effect on the sport, wishes Ellyse Perry

The Women’s T20 World Cup final was a huge spectacle for the advertisement of women’s cricket and the 86000-plus attendance further added to the mania. Although the game was a soulless encounter, the way Alyssa Healy played that day talked about the fun factor that women's cricket can bring in as well. Ellyse Perry, who suffered an injury ahead of the mega final, spoke about what the final on March 8, celebrated as International Women’s Day, meant for the sport’s marketability.

“And I think that was something the team was really quick to acknowledge. All the past players and all the effort that’s been put into developing women’s cricket over the last little bit, it made that whole tournament so much bigger than just the tournament itself. It was more about the sport and women’s sport in Australia and around the world. We all felt like that, whether you were playing or not. This was so much bigger than just one game of cricket or one innings or one spell of bowling from any one individual. It was about the moment.”

“And to be part of that and still be amongst the group when that was all occurring, I feel very fortunate. Motty (Australia’s coach Matthew Mott) and the Australian staff could have replaced me with another player, but they let me stick around. That was pretty cool.”

“As soon as our sights were set on filling the MCG for the final, it felt like that and it promised to be that. And was just about whether it was going to pan out like that or not. As the tournament went on and even in the lead-up to it in terms of the interest and scrutiny on the event, I think we all knew it was going to be something. We just didn’t know how big it was going to be.”