Perry set for two-sport weekends

Updated October 10, 2012 18:08:33

Dual sporting international Ellyse Perry is preparing for a hectic mix-and-match summer which is likely to see her play both football and cricket on the same weekend.

Perry returned from Sri Lanka on Tuesday morning following Australia's four-run win over England in Sunday's World T20 cricket final and was due to resume training with her W-League club Sydney FC on Wednesday afternoon.

Sydney - which on Wednesday announced Matildas star Kyah Simon as its captain - expects to have Perry available for all but two of its 12 W-League regular season games.

The domestic T20 and one-day competitions - like the W-League - are conducted between October and January, inevitably causing fixture clashes with Perry's cricket team, New South Wales Breakers, and her new soccer team.

Asked if Perry could play both sports on the same weekend, Sydney FC coach Alen Stajcic said "that's a possibility".

"They (Breakers) tend to have a triple-header, they tend to play Friday, Saturday, Sunday, so it will just depend on which is the bigger game.

"But we've already mapped it out and she will be available for ten out of the 12 games at the moment.

"That's a pretty good scenario, any player can miss one or two games for any reason.

"She's committed to that and if anything else happens, we'll just play it by ear."

Perry had effectively been forced out of her former W-League team Canberra, club officials telling her she had to choose between the two sports because she could not always commit to soccer.

Several months later she came to a deal with Sydney FC, which allowed her to continue to play cricket as well.

Perry - who will play at either right or left back - and skipper Simon will be among eight Matildas in Sydney's W-League squad.

One of Sydney's other major recruits is 19-year-old Matildas forward Sam Kerr.

"I'd been in Perth for a while and I just wanted a new challenge and I thought Sydney was the place to do it," said Kerr, who has recently returned form an ACL injury.

New Zealand internationals Emma Kete, Hannah Bromley and Annalie Longo have been added to the squad, which lost some players to the new Western Sydney Wanderers.

With 12 teenagers in his squad of 20, Stajcic said his emphasis was on performances ahead of results.

He expected 2011-12 grand finalists Brisbane and Canberra would be up there again and said Perth had improved and Western Sydney would be strong.

AAP

Tags: a-league, soccer, cricket, sport, sydney-2000, nsw, australia

First posted October 10, 2012 17:59:34

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Perry given ultimatum by W-League club

Updated May 30, 2012 07:59:53

W-League champions Canberra United have told dual international Ellyse Perry she needs to commit full-time to the club over cricket or find another team.

Perry represents Australia in both football and cricket, often juggling the two during the W-League season.

But Canberra United chief executive Heather Reid says the club needs the 21-year-old to be all in or nothing.

"We have basically given Ellyse an ultimatum," she told Grandstand.

"Ellyse needs to choose whether she wants to be a full-time Canberra United player and commit to training every day like everyone else does.

"Or if she still wants to try and mix her cricket commitment with football, then perhaps she will need to find another club.

"The pressure is really just coming form Canberra United and in particular [coach] Jitka Klimkova, who is trying to build a much more professional football culture and she needs players to be fully committed to football."

Perry, who has represented both the Matildas at the 2011 women's football World Cup in Germany and the Southern Stars in the 2009 cricket World Cup, said she respected the club's position but thinks it is still feasible to play both sports at the highest level.

"With Jitka coming on board, and the wonderful success the club achieved last year, I certainly respect her position and the philosophy and direction she wants to take the club in," Perry said.

"That doesn't quite fit in with my situation.

"I was open to that being a possibility and given that is has happened, that is just the way it is."

Perry said she has not put a time frame on committing to one sport.

"Something I have to make sure is that I still love every moment of it, and at the moment I do," she said.

"I get a huge thrill out of playing both cricket and soccer.

"I certainly still feel it is feasible to play both."

Reid said Perry could find another club to continue her double act, most likely the W-League's new western Sydney franchise.

Perry, who lives in Sydney, said it is still to early to think about that, especially after she was recently selected in a Matildas squad ahead of two matches against New Zealand in June.

She will also take part in a Southern Stars cricket tour in September.

"I haven't really thought that far ahead in terms of the W-League season. It is still quite a way down the track," she said.

"I know they haven't even set competition dates yet, and playing rosters haven't even been looked at yet."

Cricket Australia spokesman Peter Young said CA would continue to support Perry's ambition to play both soccer and cricket.

"Ellyse Perry is a wonderful role model to young girls interested in either or both cricket and soccer," Young said on Twitter.

Tags: cricket, sport, soccer, canberra-2600, act, australia

First posted May 29, 2012 13:51:07

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