[7] Due to her on-field performance, off-field marketability and stature as "the ultimate role model",[8] Perry is credited as a leading figure for the rising female presence in Australia's sporting culture.

[23] In her Twenty20 International debut at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against England on 1 February 2008, Perry "confirmed herself as a star for the future"[24] through a "superb all-round performance"[25] which included a late-innings knock of 29 not out from 25 balls before taking 4/20 off 4 overs to help Australia win by 21 runs.

[26][27] The breakthrough display, which also featured a skillful piece of fielding to execute a run out, sparked excitement around Perry's potential to join revered players, such as Keith Miller, in Australia's exclusive and illustrious club of legendary all-rounders.

Perry instinctively stuck out her right foot, deflecting the ball to a fielder at mid-on and preventing a boundary, securing a three-run victory and Australia's first T20 world championship title.

[34] In the only Test of the 2010–11 Women's Ashes, Perry claimed first innings bowling figures of 4/56, helping Australia in a seven-wicket victory to snatch the trophy out of English hands for the first time in six years.

[35] At the 2012 World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, Perry delivered a Player of the Match performance during a 28-run semi-final win against the West Indies, claiming crucial top-order wickets of Stafanie Taylor and Deandra Dottin to finish with figures of 2/19 off four overs.

In the final against the West Indies, after repeated unsuccessful attempts to make it through her delivery stride, she bowled her full allotment of ten overs and took 3/19 to help Australia win by 114 runs.

[44] Top-scoring in both of Australia's innings with 71 and 31 while finishing with overall bowling figures of 8/79 from 42 overs, she "confirmed her status as a true all-rounder"[44] in a see-sawing contest played amidst sweltering Perth temperatures of up to 44 degrees Celsius.

Australia would go on to "coast"[49] to a third-straight T20 world championship, defeating England in the final where Perry took 2/13 off four overs before making 31 not out and hitting the winning runs with six wickets in hand.

[50] In the 2015 Women's Ashes, on English soil, Perry helped Australia regain the trophy with several outstanding performances which included bowling her side to victory on the last day of the only Test.

[58] The disparity between Perry's rich vein of form and the national team's underwhelming output was underlined during the 2017–18 Women's Ashes, especially in the day-night Test at North Sydney Oval when she played a historic innings of 213 not out while no other teammate managed to score more than 47.

[61] At the 2018 World Twenty20 in the Caribbean, Perry took the wickets of renowned danger players (such as Devine, Dottin and Nat Sciver) early in key matches on Australia's way to another tournament triumph.

[76] On 2 March, coming into what was effectively a knockout quarter-final match against New Zealand at the Junction Oval under an injury cloud, she put on a valuable 32-run stand with Rachael Haynes late in the first innings.

[78][79] In the post-match ceremony, despite her physical ailments, Perry was able to make it on stage to accept her medal as a playing member of the squad and partake in celebrations with the team alongside a performing Katy Perry—with whom she had featured heavily in promoting the tournament.

[104] She chipped in with the ball throughout the tournament to claim the wickets of key opponents (such as Chamari Atapattu and Laura Wolvaardt), and earned widespread praise for high-quality fielding under pressure late in her team's semi-final victory against India.

[129] Perry claimed figures of 3/17 in a two-run win (via the DLS method) against Tasmania on 23 January at the TCA Ground, earning her first Player of the Match award in Victorian colours.

Perry promoted herself up the batting order to form what would become a successful long-term opening partnership with Alyssa Healy, and the Sixers turned their fortunes around to win the next nine matches.

[153] The Sixers entered WBBL|05 as "hot favourites",[154][155][156] but they lost five-straight games in the back-half of the tournament and missed out on qualifying for finals for the first time after Perry sustained a shoulder injury.

[160][161] In a match against the Melbourne Stars on 3 November 2019 at the WACA, she batted through an entire innings with Alyssa Healy—the pair put on a 199-run stand, setting a new record for the highest domestic women's T20 partnership.

[162] In April 2020, amidst media speculation regarding a move to one of the Melbourne-based WBBL teams, Perry announced she had activated an extension clause in her contract to remain with the Sixers for a further two seasons.

[180] ESPNcricinfo reported this breakdown was part of a wider disagreement between the two boards that revolved around the BCCI's insistence on CA honouring a touring commitment to play a men's bi-lateral ODI series in India in January 2020.

[192] She also played a key hand of 39 not out from 28 balls in an eight-wicket win over the Trent Rockets at Edgbaston,[193] though the Phoenix would go on to fall just short of qualifying for the tournament's knockout stage.

Perry's tall, athletic build paired with her speed across the ground makes her particularly adept at riding the boundary, and she is prone to creating "incredible" catches and run outs off her own bowling.

[204] She is at her most effective when "crafting an intimidating spell in which her opponent is pinned down, pushed back and controlled by fastidious line and length"[205] and "outfoxing the best in the business with careful planning and perfect execution".

[206] Due to team balance, Perry tends to bowl less frequently when playing with the Sydney Sixers, delivering 80 fewer overs than teammate Marizanne Kapp across the first five WBBL seasons.

[213][214] Because of her mental fortitude, physical fitness and fundamentally sound defence, Perry is arguably best suited for the rigorous nature of Test cricket rather than shorter formats of the game.

[215] She has expressed wishes for more Test matches to be played by women,[216] having been presented with just eight opportunities to wear the baggy green in the initial 13 years of her international career—a "regrettable infrequency"[217] or, as some writers have claimed, a "travesty".

[229] In a quirk reminiscent of Michael Jordan's propensity to wear college basketball shorts underneath his NBA uniform,[230] Perry has invariably worn a pair of New South Wales PSSA socks in top-level cricket matches throughout her career.

National team coach Hesterine de Reus confirmed Perry wouldn't be considered for the AFC Women's Asian Cup later in the year either: "When you play at the highest level you need to invest a lot of time to become a world-class player... We're always keeping an open mind for competition, but at this point she was not invited.

"[282] In 2023, after the Matildas had achieved the best-ever result of any senior level Australian soccer team by coming fourth in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup,[283] Perry told ABC News that she still did not regret her decision to prefer cricket over soccer: "... 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 ..."[284] After completing her HSC in 2008, Perry studied Economic and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney.