Sawyer said Perry’s commitment to overcoming a serious hamstring injury last year showed her true character and work ethic.

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“From my understanding, the injury was massive. She practically tore the thing off the bone,” he said. “For her to get back to Big Bash, I think, if we are all being honest, it was probably rushed a little bit. But we all want Ellyse Perry in the team and, once again, she wanted to perform for the side.”

Perry required surgery after tearing her hamstring during the 2020 T20 World Cup in March. She re-injured the hamstring while training for the series against New Zealand in September, forcing her to limit her bowling.

“Listening to people criticise her when she was coming back [from injury] was a bit tough to hear but from my end, she was putting the team first and was prepared to come back even though she maybe wasn’t 100 per cent right,” he said.

“You coach lots of players and you probably don’t want to single one person out, but her work ethic is without a doubt the best in the world. She does everything possible to get herself right and to find different ways to do things, all for the purpose of winning matches.”

All players and staff in the WBBL will return to freedom on Monday night after being plunged into a three-day lockdown in Tasmania.

With no COVID-19 cases recorded on Monday, premier Peter Gutwein declared the lockdown end at 6pm, meaning crowds will be allowed back into WBBL games this week.

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