Perry to miss WBBL|09 opener after over rate breach

Ellyse Perry will be forced to watch from the sidelines as her Sydney Sixers begin their Weber WBBL campaign on Thursday night as she serves a one-match ban for a slow over rate in last year’s final.

The star allrounder has admitted she is disappointed – labelling it "a bummer" – but said she accepted the penalty, which was handed down at the end of last season.

The Sixers were found to be behind the rate in last year's final against Adelaide Strikers, as well as in two regular season matches.

That last breach was captain Perry’s third strike, resulting in an automatic one-match ban for the 32-year-old – a penalty the club accepted at the time but one the Sixers captain has had to wait 11 months to serve.

It added salt to the wound after the Sixers went down to first-time champions the Strikers by 10 runs in the final.

"It's a really hard subjective measure sometimes to understand where time is gained and lost," Perry said in Melbourne on Monday.

"A large part of that is my management of the group in those high-pressure games.

"That's something I can definitely learn from.

"It's a bummer to miss the first game, but I was very much aware of the rules and it is what it is."

Ashleigh Gardner will lead the Sixers in her place against Melbourne Stars on Thursday night, before Perry resumes her post for their second match against Sydney Thunder, also at North Sydney Oval, on Sunday.

It is understood the Sixers and free-to-air broadcasters the Seven Network both asked for Perry's punishment to be disregarded given it is a new season but were knocked back.

"The competition runs with a set of playing conditions and rules around it," Big Bash boss Alistair Dobson said at Monday's season launch in Melbourne.

"Everyone understands what those rules are, that's the situation we're in."

Sixers coach Charlotte Edwards said although it was a shame Perry would miss out, she was excited to see Gardner grasp her chance at captaincy.

The Australian allrounder took over the vice-captaincy last season, with Thursday's game to be her first in charge of the Sixers. 

"I've just been chatting to her today about Thursday's game, and she's thought a lot about it over the last couple of weeks and she seems really well planned and looking forward to it," Edwards told cricket.com.au.

"She said if we win, she might have to keep the job... I said you might need to speak to Ellyse about that.

"She's really looking forward to it and it's a great opportunity for her.

"A couple of years ago she said she wanted more leadership experience and there's no better place to do it than under Ellyse's leadership."

While Perry will be absent, Australia captain Meg Lanning is set to play her first Big Bash game in two years when she leads the Stars in Thursday night’s game.

Lanning sat out last season as she took a break from cricket. She returned to captain Australia to victory in the T20 World Cup in February, before being ruled out of the Ashes for medical reasons.

The 31-year-old made her one-day cricket return for Victoria late last month and immediately hit her straps, hitting three half-centuries in four innings.

Lanning’s return bolsters the Stars’ hopes of a return to the WBBL finals, while the Sixers – with coach Charlotte Edwards again at the helm – are again expected to factor at the business end of the season after maintaining their strong group of local players and adding internationals Chloe Tryon and Jess Kerr.

"I don't really have a handle on who the team to beat is," Perry said.

"If you look at teams on paper, they've all got their different strengths and it's really evenly matched across the board.

"It's probably more who's got the form and momentum throughout the competition."

- with additional reporting from AAP

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