Australia take flight in high spirits despite Ellyse Perry blow

A punch of the air from Megan Schutt emerged from the corner of the 20th row, as the pilot welcomed on board a celebrated group of guests. A spirited round of applause from fellow passengers quelled any questions of unfamiliarity the absence of selfie-hunting co-flyers may have triggered. Reciprocation for the recognition came quickly as an ever good-humored Alyssa Healy grinned ear-to-ear and waved a victory sign in jest from her aisle seat.

Travelling with athletes may be far from a unique flying experience the world over, but as the Qantas flight prepared to take off around noon on Tuesday from Melbourne to Sydney, the lengthy ovation for one of Australia's most successful sports teams seemed a fitting prelude to their highly anticipated knockouts at the first T20 World Cup at home.

The buzz in the lead-up to this spectacle on the flight had been commensurate with the tournament's. Throughout this T20 World Cup, the home team has taken centre stage in the ICC's goal to attract a record crowd for the final at the MCG on March 8.

A decisive stride towards that target was made just hours before, a thrilling win in a virtual quarter-final against New Zealand on Monday securing Australia's berth in the semi-finals. This was after they had tottered close to the unthinkable during the group stages, losing to India and nearly made a mess of a straightforward chase against Sri Lanka.

By the time the team boarded the flight, though, confirmation had arrived from the Australia camp that their star allrounder Ellyse Perry would play no further part in their title defence due to a hamstring injury. One might have expected the mood in the squad to be deflated, but once the aircraft's wheels retracted, there was little indication of anything but normalcy.

Peals of laughter occasionally - and somewhat unsurprisingly - emanated from the corner occupied by Schutt, seated next to allrounder Jess Jonassen. Left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux, whose corked thigh marked the start of a worrying slew of injuries in the Australian side this World Cup season, kept to herself in the aisle seat just in front of Healy.

Headphones on, teen allrounder Annabel Sutherland kept busy with her phone, while Shelley Nitschke, the former Australia player and current assistant coach, buried herself in a book. The pair, though, would often disengage from their preoccupation to help in the endeavors of Healy, who remained steadfast in her commitment to solving Sudoku puzzles through the duration of the flight.

Halfway into the journey, as the crew served rice crackers, chocolate-chip biscuits and drinks as refreshments, the television monitors flashed news about the coronavirus being deemed "the 'gravest threat' since 2008 GFC", "PM drawn back into 'sports rorts' saga", and Georgia Wareham starring in Australia's win on Monday. A highlights package of that game ran soon after. Meanwhile, Perry, with her wireless earpods on, limped six steps to about four rows in front, where she stayed put until the end of the flight.

"We are sure the whole of Australia by now know that Ellyse Perry is [out of the tournament]," Justine Hughes and Bibi Khaleel, two of the flight attendants, told ESPNcricinfo as they made their way out of the aircraft. "It surely must have affected them, but I loved how they seemed to be in good spirits, all of them - lovely and very confident. It was a great to serve such an established bunch of athletes."

What would they remember most from this experience?

"No one made any special requests. They were all very kind, very gracious actually. Especially Ellyse Perry. Despite her being one of the most famous [sportpersons] in our country and, yes, the injury as you mentioned, when a couple of us asked for a photo [with her], she was very happy to oblige," Khaleel said, smiling.

The Australians will hope they are on a flight back to Melbourne in a few days' time. If things go well, by Sunday night their photos could be in even higher demand.