Ellyse Perry has declared her desire to modernise her bowling in the same way she did her batting to remain a genuine allrounder at international level for the rest of her career.
Perry reached speeds of close to 120km/h in her bowling return from a knee injury in the WBBL on Sunday, claiming 5-22 for the Sydney Sixers against the Melbourne Renegades.
One of the long-time faces of Australia's success, Perry has faced more scrutiny on her own game in recent years amid the rapid acceleration of women's cricket.
She was forced to revolutionise her batting after being left out of Australia's T20 team early last year, before significantly upping her scoring rates to secure a return.
Perry has also bowled significantly less since a bad hamstring injury during the 2020 World Cup.
At age 33, Perry could be forgiven for opting to focus on playing out her career as one of the world's best batters who rarely bowls.
But she is adamant that won't be the case, having poured similar energy into reinvigorating her bowling as she did her batting.
"I'd love to keep having an impact in games with the ball. That's the way that I've always liked to play," Perry told AAP.
"It's something I love working on. I find it super hard and it's a great kind of challenge to spend time in the nets, trying to perfect a skill.
"Then the big gap is translating that into games.
"It's what excites me most, the challenge of trying to translate some of the things I've been working on in the nets into matches."
Perry is the first to admit the women's game has changed significantly since her international debut in 2007.
While bowlers such as herself could once blow teams away with pace, she believes speed now advantages batters in the professional era.
"There are probably only two bowlers in the game that have that impact from a pace perspective now," Perry said.
"It's a really interesting craft in the women's game, pace bowling.
"As the batting has really developed and girls are regularly capable now of clearing the ropes across multiple parts of the ground.
"Across the board 10 years ago, it was probably limited areas of the ground girls were hitting the ball."
It's part of the reason why Perry has put hours into her variations, noting quicks must now be able to execute a good bouncer, wide-ball plan and changes of pace.
"They're the three or four must-haves as a bowler to bowl across all phases of the game," Perry said.
"Growing up, for some of the older players, there wasn't that same need. So to pick those skills up later on, it's a challenge.
"You've got to be really open and accepting to that. It's probably a piece that's come a bit later for me than some of the younger girls."
