Perry reveals technique tweak ahead of international return

Ellyse Perry has revealed she used her long rehabilitation from a serious hamstring injury to tweak her bowling run-up, a move she hopes will provide greater balance and power when she hits the crease.

Perry, the world's top-ranked ODI allrounder, is set to play her first international match in 391 days on Sunday, when Australia take on New Zealand in the opening T20I in Hamilton.

She was last seen in the green and gold during last year's T20 World Cup group match against the White Ferns in Melbourne, where she tore her hamstring off the bone while diving in the field during the must-win match.

Perry returned to elite cricket during last year's Rebel WBBL but produced her reworked run-up for the first time when she took the new ball for Victoria in their opening domestic one-day game against NSW last month.

The allrounder went wicketless in Victoria's first two matches but was threatening up front against the ACT in their third, taking 2-14.

"Throughout my rehab process I saw that as a great opportunity to work on a few different things and one of those was improving the efficiency and effectiveness of my run-up, to give me a little bit more balance and power at the crease," Perry told reporters from hotel quarantine in Christchurch on Thursday.

"That's a bit of a work-in-progress and certainly bringing that into the first round of matches at the start of the WNCL, I didn't expect it to go smoothly.

"Those first few games against NSW weren't perfect with my run-up but since then it's been really great because I've been able to iron that out and it feels fine now.

"It's improved from 12 months ago before I got injured, so it's been a nice opportunity to work on that."

Perry had hoped to return for Australia's home limited-overs matches against New Zealand last September and October and was included in the squad, but a late setback saw her remain on the sidelines throughout the three T20Is and three ODIs in Brisbane.

However, the amount of international cricket she missed during her year-long absence was limited to that one series, with Australia's other planned tours during that period – a tour of South Africa and home matches against India – called off due to the pandemic.

"I'm certainly excited (to be back), I think we all are," Perry said.

"I haven't played for 12 months but the girls have only played once in that 12 months as well.

"They are few and far between, matches at international level at the moment. We're not taking any of it for granted."

Her comeback came for the Sydney Sixers in WBBL|06 in October, where she produced 390 runs at 48.75 across 13 matches, but received some criticism for her strike rate of 96.53, while with the ball she took eight wickets at 34.37, with an economy rate of 8.25.

"It's probably taken me the best part of 12 months to feel like I'm back to full playing fitness and performance levels in terms of recovering from my hamstring and just not playing a lot of cricket.

"By no means was I close to where I was before I got injured during the WBBL and it's probably still a work-in-progress but at the end of the day it's been a nice opportunity to work on various aspects of my game."

CommBank tour of New Zealand 2021

Australia ODI & T20I Squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Hannah Darlington, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Molly Strano, Georgia Wareham, Belinda Vakarewa, Tayla Vlaeminck

T20I squad: Sophie Devine (capt), Amy Satterthwaite (vice-capt), Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Hayley Jensen, Fran Jonas, Amelia Kerr, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Frances Mackay, Katey Martin (wk), Thamsyn Newton, Hannah Rowe

ODI squad: Sophie Devine (capt), Amy Satterthwaite (vice-capt), Lauren Down, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Hayley Jensen, Leigh Kasperek - (games 2 & 3 only), Amelia Kerr, Jess Kerr, Frances Mackay, Rosemary Mair, Katey Martin (wk), Hannah Rowe (game 1 only), Lea Tahuhu

1st T20: March 28, Seddon Park, Hamilton, 5.10pm AEDT

2nd T20: March 30, McLean Park, Napier, 1pm AEDT

3rd T20: April 1, Eden Park, Auckland, 1pm AEDT

1st ODI: April 4, Bay Oval, Tauranga, 9am AEDT

2nd ODI: April 7, Bay Oval, Tauranga, 12noon AEDT

3rd ODI: April 10, Bay Oval, Tauranga, 12noon AEDT

All matches will be shown live in Australia on Fox Cricket and Kayo