Women's sports could emerge from the coronavirus better off, says Ellyse Perry, as different codes try to extend their reach and find new revenue streams.
Perry has returned to Melbourne to continue her recovery from the hamstring injury that ruled her out of Australia's World Cup success in front of 86,174 fans at the MCG.
That night was meant to be a watershed moment for women's sport both in the country and around the entire cricket globe.
However there have been fears that momentum has stalled, particularly as all sporting organisations at home and abroad take a significant financial hit.
But Perry argued that women's codes had to be as important now as ever for organisations when the games resume.
"Sport in general is resilient and I can't actually see it having a long-lasting negative effect," Perry told AAP.
"It's certainly made organisations rethink how they run their sports and their codes and potentially strip it back to what is really important.
"That's not necessarily a bad thing. I don't think it's going to affect women's sport.
"It's become so apparent that if you want all your population engaging in your code you need to engage all the population.
"And part of that is having women's involvement.
"It's still very much an area for growth and that might be even more apparent after coronavirus because codes are going to have to keep finding new revenue streams."
Perry also believed Australian women's cricket can again lead the way.
She is holding hope New Zealand can tour at the start of the summer as planned, with travel exemptions for athletes between the two countries likely to be applied for some sports.
The 29-year-old is also adamant the Women's Big Bash League should remain at the start of the summer in a stand-alone window, and not be pushed back as cost-saving measure.
Keeping the early start could give it rare clean air, with the AFL and NRL likely to finish their club seasons in October and the men's T20 World Cup in grave doubt.
"It might be the case that either the Aussie women's team or WBBL might be the first cricket to start up again. I think there is a lot of scope in that," Perry said.
"I was probably a little fearful for this WBBL because of the men's T20 World Cup. I think it probably would have got swallowed in that.
"If the men's World Cup doesn't go ahead then it's a really good chance for us to have a stand-alone window."
Australian Associated Press
