Former Matilda Ellyse Perry reflects on team's achievements at FIFA Women's World Cup

The Australian women's cricket team are set to play their first international matches on home soil since winning their sixth T20 World Cup, retaining the Ashes for a fifth straight series and breaking an eight-year drought in the Test format.

The group's sustained success as the world number one team should be enough to pull crowds for its upcoming white-ball series against the West Indies beginning on Sunday, but organisers will still be hoping to capitalise on the country's ever-growing interest in women's sport off the back of the FIFA Women's World Cup.

The major football tournament was a resounding hit with the Australian public and travelling fans, as attendance and broadcast viewership records tumbled over the course of the competition.

Although our national cricket side experienced a similar kind of support throughout their home T20 World Cup campaign back in 2020, culminating in front of a game-changing 86,174 people for the final against India at the MCG, the pandemic that sent the country into lockdown shortly afterwards unfortunately meant some of that momentum was lost.

Beyond the crowds and huge buy-in from what felt like every single Australian, the Matildas campaign and FIFA World Cup more generally were also dubbed a commercial success.

It was the first tournament to break-even for the sport's global governing body, while Nike saw unprecedented demand for Australian jerseys, outselling the previous World Cup edition 13 to one.

It makes you wonder how dual international Ellyse Perry felt watching all of this from the sidelines.

As someone that made her debut in both sports as a 16-year-old in 2007, first in cricket and then football in the space of two weeks, does she regret her decision to eventually pick cricket once the competing schedules became too much?

"No, not at all, from a personal perspective I had an amazing experience and opportunity to play two sports for a period of time before both had transitioned to full-time professional and I think the fact that that's happened in cricket and soccer, as well as the rise of other sports and opportunities for women is just brilliant," Perry told ABC Sport.

"It all kind of unfolded for me at the right time and it's really nice to just be a fan and to share in the experience with everyone else around the country who were really excited about the World Cup, because it was just a really special moment in sport and I probably feel like every other Aussie when I watch the Matildas play now; they're phenomenal athletes who are incredibly entertaining and engaging.

"I just want them to do well, in a lot of respects, I think football, is one of the last frontiers for Australia because it's not a sport we've typically had huge amounts of success in and for the girls to have achieved so much in a sport that is truly global – there's nothing quite like it – it's really cool."

This question may seem silly to cricket fans, who are deeply aware of how much Perry has achieved since she played her last match for the Matildas in 2013 and started to pivot towards a career in the one sport.

Over the past decade, Perry has won four T20 World Cups, an ODI World Cup, a Commonwealth Games gold medal and achieved the third-highest score in the history of women's Test cricket (213*).

And although the marketability and status of Matildas captain Sam Kerr has likely caught up to be on par with Perry these days, Perry has been able to ply her trade at home for the most part, earning a decent wage in the WBBL and WNCL, while her Matildas counterparts have had to go searching for a professional wage overseas.

In a lot of respects, cricket is way ahead of football in this regard, not only in terms of the money on offer here in Australia, but also internationally, with the ICC announcing equal prize money for its future events in July. In comparison, the recent FIFA tournament saw the women rewarded a third of what its male players compete for.

There's also important context to be taken from the rankings of the Australian team in each sport, with our national women's cricket team more likely to be favourites to take out the top prize at World Cups competing against eight to 10 teams, rather than a 10th or 11th ranked side up against 32 teams at football's major tournament.

If there has been a more viable option, for now anyway, cricket has been it.

Coming back to Kerr, and the huge profile she has now globally, Perry remembers playing alongside the backflipping striker at the 2011 FIFA World Cup in Germany – where the latter is technically still the last Matildas star to have scored in a quarterfinal of the tournament.

"I played with quite a few girls in that team so it's nice to still have that connection there but gosh, they're all so talented and some of the younger girls coming through too, it's been great to see the depth in Australian football and the opportunities they now have to play overseas at well-supported and resourced clubs, makes me really excited about the future.

"I'm a huge Sam Kerr fan just like everyone else and I guess the way she's grown into the athlete that she is now and just the person and leader that she is too, she's obviously a pivotal part of the Matildas but also just really important for the sport more generally.

"For us to have an Australian with such a significant standing in football, probably one of the only sports we're not synonymous with, is an amazing feat ... Of all Sam's achievements, I think that is something Australia is really proud of."

Leading up to the Matildas' best performance of the World Cup against France in the quarterfinals, where the teams were drawn nil-all and had to be separated in a penalty shootout, a clip of Perry scoring against Sweden in the same stage of the 2011 tournament did the rounds.

It was a nice reminder of Perry's achievements in her past footballing life, and one that came as a surprise to the athlete herself, who was unaware she still held that record and only vaguely remembers scoring the goal.

"I had no idea, there's been a few World Cups since then and it was a very different time and level of competition, I think the older I get, the more realistic I am about it being a cross that happened to go in rather than a shot.

"I kind of remember that game more so for the couple of goals I was involved in the back of our net, rather than Sweden's but it was a great moment, I mean I loved being a part of it and it was a really incredible experience.

"It would have been one of my first times in front of like a really big crowd, because I think there was 30 odd thousand there for that quarterfinal, so I have lots of fond memories."

Perry is set to return for the green and gold this weekend in the first T20 International at North Sydney Oval against the West Indies after a short hiatus due to a sore left knee that saw her miss a match against Ireland in July and The Hundred competition in the UK.

Asked to flag a player to watch, Perry said West Indies captain Hayley Matthews will be hard to stop after winning the Caribbean Women's Premier League.

Hear to the match live and free on the ABC Listen app, Sunday from 12pm AEDT.