Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Australia’s Ellyse Perry has won the inaugural Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award for the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year, the International Cricket Council announced on Thursday. The award has been introduced in memory of Heyhoe Flint, one of cricket’s legendary figures, a World Cup winner and ICC Cricket Hall of Famer, who passed in January 2017 at the age of 77. Perry, the 27-year-old all-rounder from Sydney, scored an undefeated 213 and took three wickets in the one-off Ashes Test in Sydney and, accumulated 905 runs and took 22 wickets in 19 ODIs in the voting period. She also scored 28 runs and bagged four wickets in four Twenty20 Internationals. Perry was an integral member of the Australia side which clinched the inaugural ICC Women’s Championship in November 2016 and also helped her side to reach the semi-finals of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 in England earlier this year. This is Perry’s maiden ICC award since becoming the youngest Australian ever to play international cricket when she debuted in 2007 before her 17th birthday despite never having played a domestic match at the senior level.

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Amy Satterthwaite has clinched the ICC Women’s ODI Player of the Year Award, while Perry’s team-mate Beth Mooney has won the ICC Women’s T20I Player of the Year and ICC Women’s Emerging Player of the Year awards.

Published in Daily Times, December 22^nd 2017.