Australian coach Matthew Mott has backed spearhead Ellyse Perry to return to her brutal best with the ball in the latter stages of the World Cup, which enters the sudden-death phase after Saturday's final pool match against South Africa.
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Perry produced arguably her best bowling performance of the tournament in Wednesday's win over India, returning 2-37 after going wicketless in the previous three matches.
Despite the dry spell she still has seven wickets this World Cup and has shouldered the fast bowling load in every game, but Mott has ominously declared Perry is set to reach new heights at the business end of the tournament.
"We've played on some really flat wickets but there's no reason why she can't be more effective," Mott said.
"She seemed to bowl a lot fuller and straighter and targeted the stumps [against India]. That's a real big one for her, and obviously change of pace on these wickets, that's a big one.
"You need to be a little bit unpredictable at times and get the batsmen out of their tempo.
"Two years ago here in the Ashes she was probably the quickest I've seen her, and she's not far off that.
"She's obviously battled back through some injuries and that's played a part, and just getting that volume of bowling back into her.
"I do see her improving game by game and hopefully now with getting to the pointy end of the competition she'll come right into the fore."
Perry remains the world's most consistent all-round cricketer, and her runs at the top of the order have been crucial in heaving Australia to five wins from six matches this World Cup.
Wednesday's unbeaten 60 was her fourth-straight half century and she sits fourth on the leading run-scorer's list this tournament with 311 at 103.66.
Her ODI batting statistics are remarkable over the past two years. She's belted 1246 runs at 77.88 since July 21, 2015, and racked up 15 half centuries in that run.
She bats at No.4 for Australia predominantly, but has come in at first drop twice this tournament – for injured captain Meg Lanning when she sat out the win over Pakistan, and then against England where the skipper and Perry traded places in the batting line-up.
"She's incredibly dependable, she's often the spine of our innings," Mott said.
"Her numbers in the last few years have been phenomenal. Hopefully she keeps racking up those half centuries. Hopefully she's saving one of those hundreds for the semi-final or the final because that's the last thing she probably needs to tick off.
"Her in combination with someone like Meg, who probably takes the attack to the opposition a little bit more, is a perfect foil for each other. They've obviously put on a lot of big partnerships together. It's a focus for our group these partnerships.
"Credit to our openers, they got us off to a really good start most times which has allowed our middle order to bat with a bit of freedom."
Australia will finish either first or second in the World Cup standings if they beat South Africa, depending on how England fare against the West Indies on Saturday.
