WATCH, WBBL | Cricketing Gods refuse to let ashamed Ellyse Perry go before veteran strikes ton

Today at 3:50 PM

Finance guru of yore George Clason once famously remarked, "luck has a peculiar habit of favouring those that do not depend on it." Ellyse Perry showed exhibit A of the same in North Sydney on Sunday when she was gone for all money in her 90s, only for the bails to conspire against her rivals.

Ellyse Perry's 111 for Sydney Sixers against Adelaide Strikers in North Sydney on Sunday proved pivotal in taking her team to the WBBL Challenger

Sydney Sixers broke a two-year slump to qualify for their sixth Women's Big Bash League playoffs with a win over Adelaide Strikers at the North Sydney Oval. The hosts put up 173/4 on the board and put up a successful defence by a solitary run in an all-time thriller, where Sophie Ecclestone failed to hit the three required runs off the final delivery of the game. Ellyse Perry was unsurprisingly named player of the match after smashing her third WBBL ton, a 71-ball effort worth 111 runs, with each one of those runs proving crucial for the victory. However, things could have turned out a lot differently were it not for a miracle that ensured the batter's survival in the 17th over against all odds.

Perry moved into the 90s with an authoritative maximum off Amanda Jade-Wellington on the fourth ball and with little time remaining, the veteran was keen to press on the accelarator. Her experienced counterpart responded by floating a full-ish ball at the stumps, the flight and loop enough to deceive Perry as she erronously went on the backfoot deep inside her crease while creating room with hopes of cutting the ball away. The Kookaburra inevitably snuck below the sweet spot and struck the willlow's bottom edge, the contact sending the white rock smashing into the base of the middle-stump. However, to the Strikers' horror, the bails lit up for the briefest moment before staying put, provoking a disbelieving "oh my god" froan from wicket-keeper Bridget Patterson. Perry could not help but wryly smile as Patterson and the umpires checked the bails, but the guilt got to the Aussie veteran. Before Jade-Wellington ran in for her next effort, Perry took a close look at the stumps and remarked to Patterson that the stumps seemed to be a slight angle which kept the bails from falling. The duo called over the umpires thereafter and made the correction, even as Perry blushed throughout with laughter and a little shame.

Unfortunately for Strikers, the moment of misfortune was enough to knock them out of WBBL 2025/26.