Watch: Didn’t mean to bowl at his ribs, says Ellyse Perry about bowling to Sachin Tendulkar

One of the highlights of the star-studded charity game for the Australian bushfires on Sunday was the contest between Sachin Tendulkar and Ellyse Perry.

Tendulkar, who was present as coach of the Ricky Ponting XI, batted for an over against Perry during the innings break of the match.

Videos: Tendulkar bats against Perry, vintage Lara steals the show in Bushfire relief match

The former India captain ended up facing four balls from the star Australian all-rounder, with Annabel Sutherland bowling the other two balls of the over, and the crowd at the Junction Oval in Melbourne, as indeed fans around the world, were left delighted.

On Monday, Perry received the Belinda Clark Award at the annual Australian Cricket Awards. During her acceptance speech, the 29-year-old spoke about the experience of bowling to Tendulkar.

“Well, because I wasn’t allowed to use a new ball I thought I probably need to put it into the wicket a little more,” said Perry with a smile. “But I certainly didn’t mean to bowl it at Sachin’s ribs from the first ball. I think that wasn’t the right thing to do. But it was incredible, an amazing moment.”

While Tendulkar is considered by most as one of the greatest batsmen the world has ever seen, Perry will go down as a legendary all-rounder of the game. The right-arm pacer and middle-order batter has an ICC Women’s World Cup triumph to her name and is a four-time ICC Women’s World T20 winner. She has played eight Tests, 112 One-Day International and 115 T20Is for Australia.

Having previously won the award in 2016 and 2018, Perry was honoured with the Belinda Clark award for the third time at the Australian Cricket Awards in Melbourne on Monday night. It marks the culmination of a fantastic 12-month period that also saw her named the ICC’s Cricketer of the Year.

The 29-year-old polled 161 votes to take out the award ahead of last year’s winner Alyssa Healy (153) – who won the ODI and T20I Player of the Year awards – with left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen (87) the next highest vote getter, reported cricket.com.au.