Ellyse Perry ruled out of WBBL for up to three weeks with shoulder injury

The Sydney Sixers could be without star allrounder Ellyse Perry until the WBBL finals weekend – if they can make it without her. The vastly-influential skipper has been diagnosed with a low-grade AC joint injury and the Sixers medical staff expect her to be ruled out for one to three weeks.

Perry landed heavily on her right – bowling – shoulder while fielding in Sunday’s two-wicket loss to Melbourne Renegades. She has already been ruled out of Wednesday’s game against Hobart Hurricanes at North Sydney Oval and will be assessed again before the Sixers fly to Perth to play the Scorchers across the weekend.

While it is good news for the Australian team before the World T20 early next year that the injury was not more serious, the Sixers will be sweating on Perry’s quick return as they eye a place in the WBBL finals.

She has been in sublime form this season and is the second-leading run scorer in competition with 469 at 93.80. Perry and opening partner Alyssa Healy have dominated the crease, scoring 756 of the Sixers’ total 1279 runs. In addition, Perry has the third-best bowling economy rate of 5.62 per over.

The Sixers are third on 12 points, two points behind ladder leaders Brisbane Heat after nine games, and have five matches to go in the WBBL regular season. The Sixers said they expected Perry to be available for the finals on 7 and 8 December should they feature.