Ellyse Perry has revealed her vision for the future of Australian women's cricket and she's dared the country's administrators to dream big.
Perry spelled out her wish for the Women's Big Bash League to be its own drawcard and the 2020 Twenty20 World Cup to be played in the country's biggest stadiums.
The Australian allrounder was on Thursday named the ICC women's player of the year and paid homage to the quantum leaps Australia's women's cricket, and female sport in general, has made during the past several years.
She said she wanted the women's game to move to the point it could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the men's and play on the biggest stages.
She said she hoped the final of the World T20, which will be held in Australia in February-March 2020, is played in one of the country's big stadiums such as the MCG or SCG.
This year's Ashes series was played across a host of lesser grounds, such as Allan Border Field, Coffs Harbour Stadium, North Sydney Oval and Manuka Oval.
She said Cricket Australia was already discussing taking the World T20 final to a bigger arena and she wanted to see it become a reality.
"Cricket Australia are really keen on the final being in one of the major stadiums in the country and filling that out," Perry said.
"The WBBL is a really great vehicle for building that and growing the interest in T20 in Australia. I think that's the ultimate goal - filling out big stadiums."
While the WBBL has experienced exponential growth in interest and crowds, she said she wanted it to be a main attraction in its own right.
Many of the WBBL games this year are being played as curtain-raisers to the men's game.
Perry will captain Sydney Sixers on Saturday against Hobart Hurricanes as part of a double-header at the SCG.
She said she saw a time when the WBBL was played as stand-alone matches and able to draw its own big crowds.
"I think there are some really clear ideas and Cricket Australia have some goals, aspirations for what they want to do with the tournament," Perry said.
"In a couple of years time it will be its stand-alone event. We might play it a bit earlier in the year.
"Leading into Twenty20 World Cup in Australia in 2020, I'd really like to see the women's games filling out decent-sized stadiums and making it really valuable property for Cricket Australia."
