Nagging knee soreness could prevent Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry from bowling in the eight-match series against Pakistan that begins on Thursday. But her stunning batting improvement last summer has ensured she will nevertheless be a high selection priority for the Southern Stars.
Perry is expected to miss the opening of the series, which features four one-dayers at Redlands, east of Brisbane, and then four Twenty20s on the Gold Coast.
Stars coach Cathryn Fitzpatrick downplayed the severity of Perry's knee soreness, insisting it was "just a bit of an irritation that's hovering".
"Even in the past week that she's been here we've seen a great deal of improvement ... in the level of pain she's experiencing," she said.
The coach did concede that whenever the 23-year-old was introduced in the series, which finishes on September 5, it would likely be as a specialist batter, due to her lack of recent bowling.
"It's not something [causing me a lot of stress]. I just want her to be right. We don't need to push her on it because ... she makes the team as a batter anyway," Fitzpatrick said. "We'll just keep taking the advice of the medical people who are monitoring her pretty closely."
While Perry, an opening bowler with brisk pace, did not excel with the ball across last year's two Ashes series, she more than made up for that with the bat. She amassed 286 runs at 95.33 in the home Ashes series, including three half-centuries, and averaged 53 in their successful World Twenty20 defence earlier this year.
With Perry struggling to bowl, the Stars will face Pakistan without their two fastest bowlers, with 18-year-old Holly Ferling sidelined with back stress fractures. Fitzpatrick backed Megan Schutt, Rene Farrell and Julie Hunter to fulfil seam-bowling duties for the series, with assistance from medium-pacers Delissa Kimmince, called into the squad as cover for Perry, and Sarah Coyte.
"Two or three years ago we really stacked our squads with pace bowlers to make sure if we were in a situation like we are now that we've got some coverage," the coach said. "We're quite happy with the line-up we can put out with 'Pez' [Perry] not bowling."
The most significant inclusion into the Stars squad for the series is Victorian Kristen Beams, a 29-year-old leg-spinner who has previously progressed no higher than Australia A.
Squad: Meg Lanning (c), Alex Blackwell (vc), Kristen Beams, Nicole Bolton, Jess Cameron, Sarah Coyte, Rene Farrell, Alyssa Healy, Julie Hunter, Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Erin Osborne, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt.
