On this day, 2015…Perfect Perry World.
It was a cloudy final day. The match wasn’t heading anywhere. No. Towards a draw. All England had to do was to bat through the day. Of course, It’s easy to write. Of course, it’s easy to sit out and talk about it. You have to really go there. Face Schutt, Coyte or Perry.
Perry lives for days like this. She loves the challenges. And the red ball. She loves it to hit them out of the park, loves to hold them close and loves to destroy the stumps with that. It doesn’t matter what she does, the ball loves her back. Now, that’s everything.
*
Coyte began things with a beautiful inswinger to remove Heather Knight. She was playing onside but the ball was slower than she expected and got herself in an awkward position, trapped.
It happens. We have Taylor, England would have thought. Oh, Perry must have overheard it. Now, Taylor stands well outside the crease and moves across as she sees Perry coming closer. She stops at the middle stump while tapping the bat that covered the off-stump. Perry pitches in the good length and allowed the condition to do the rest. Skiddy, bippity bippity boo. And the spell worked. A tiny inside edge was caught and the ball knocked stumps. Taylor’s disappointment was all reasonable. You don’t expect someone to use magic spells during the match, right?
Let me remind you, this is Perry’s world and she has her own rules.
Poor Winfield. She was disappointed too. She was running out of partners one by one. No. No. She wasn’t afraid to face the bowlers but she just doesn’t want to stand there staring at her teammates going in one by one.
Break now. England would have had thousands of pep talks. Hundreds of them would be about playing the natural game and listening to their instincts while the rest would be about saving the Test. Constantly, juggling between both, Edwards walked out. And seven deliveries later…
Perry came back. It was the first delivery. Edwards wanted to leave the ball but her instincts decided against it. She leaned forward for a defence. The ball was well outside off, all Edwards had to was to leave. Leave the ball, stay calm. Yes, her mind would have told so. Also otherwise. Poor Edwards lost the battle to the juggling mind. She fell for the poorest delivery that Perry bowled. It was just too late for her to realize. She prayed for Healy to drop the catch. Unfortunately, Healy is too good to miss out on something like this. Let me remind you, she holds the world record for ‘highest catch of the cricket ball’. Oh, that’s for later. Again, this is Perry’s world. This is 2015. You need to travel to the future to enter Healy’s world.
Now, Schutt loves the spotlight. She doesn’t steal them but creates one. Even it is tiny, she shines brightly. Winfield will not get out that easily. It is a condition that’s well-suited for her. She can go on and on, killing the day. They need something unusual. Unusually beautiful. Oh, hello there, Schutt’s inswinger. The ball began from, probably, five or sixth stump moved in the air, pitched in between good and full length, came back to hit the pads of Winfield. She had no clue. The umpire had no clue. How. Did. She. Do. That?
Jaw drop. Mic Drop. Winfield had no answers, frown, walked back.
Schutt knew it was magical. Does magic happen twice? Schutt kept trying. This time, she had Sciver. A similar delivery but it did not swing much and was fullish. Sciver tried to defend but the ball caught the edge to fly away into the hands of Healy.
*
England is a champion team. Even their number 11 can bat. They can bowl. Whatever.
Elwiss and Greenway wasted hours. Together. They did not try too much. They made Australia bowl to their plans. They were tiring the bowlers. Perry knew it. Perry was frustrated. Was the ball missed the stumps too?
It was a plan and without the involvement of the ball, she couldn’t do it.
Greenway was waiting for fuller delivery. Perry suddenly ran a bit quick and released a bit quick. Oh, she fooled us all. The ball was one of the slowest she bowled. Her actions told the other way. It was a perfect Perry prank. Greenway was the prey. She fell for it. She was already down thinking that it was a bouncer. Unfortunately, before she could realise, the ball clipped the leg stump. Masterpiece. Healy should have received a warning for shouting at Greenway. Imagine squatting for 136 deliveries right after the lunch, all she could see is Greenway’s ass for more than two and a half hours and Greenway was doing literally nothing. She had 16 runs. Two of them were boundaries. It was a relief for Healy. Finally.
*
Perry didn’t have to do much for Marsh. She had a fielding that would have made Marsh get ready for a short ball. No, it wasn’t. A straight delivery that moved away a bit only to hit the off-stump. Marsh completely missed it. The off-stump went down. Bye Bye, said Perry.
*
Despite grabbing five wickets, Perry was a bit disappointed for missing out hattrick. She looked like she wanted to throw it away and she did. A juicy full toss that stopped right before debutant Elwiss. After facing 118 deliveries, Elwiss was supposed to clear the ground to bring up her fifty. She was on 46 at that time. And all she could do was to find a fielder. The ball went right into the hands of Schutt who was standing closer to the practice pitch. Perhaps Elwiss misread the hint after grinding for hours. Shrubsole should have interfered, stopped the thought trains of Elwiss who seemed pretty lost. Perry didn’t expect it. In a hurry, she stole Ross Taylor’s tongue-poking celebration. A six-wicket haul.
Coyte was out of the scene for a while now. Being too good, She deserved one more. The Field was all set for it. However, Coyte didn’t need any as Shrubsole played it through and the ball had hit her plumb in the front. That’s it. That was the game. Test. Ashes.
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