Davina Perrin scored 52 from 43 balls for Birmingham Phoenix against Southern Brave on Thursday, her second match back after a month out with a hamstring injury. Southern Brave still won by 24 runs in the women's Hundred — the 100-ball-per-side competition that has become a fixture of the English summer.

Perrin was dropped three times during her innings before being caught by Maia Bouchier off the bowling of Sarah Glenn. The runs mattered to her for a straightforward reason: she had spent four weeks on the sidelines, and this was only her second game back. She described the hamstring problem, which was expected to rule her out of at least the early group stages of the Vitality Blast, as her "first like proper injury" (BBC Sport; ECB).

During her recovery, Perrin sought advice from former England wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor. Taylor told her: "Don't try and be the player that you were before, be the player that you are now." She also urged Perrin to "be fearless, you've got the shots." Perrin has clearly taken that on board — her 43-ball fifty came sprinkled with boundaries and intent, even if the result did not go Phoenix's way.

Perrin's career so far has been a mix of fireworks and frustration. Last season she was signed by Melbourne Renegades in Australia's Big Bash League but averaged just 9.60 across five matches, dismissed for a golden duck — out first ball — on debut. Back in English domestic cricket, she averaged 40.50 in seven One-Day Cup matches for Warwickshire in the 2025 season but managed only a single T20 Blast appearance due to the hamstring injury.

In the Hundred, though, she has already left a mark. In 2025, playing for Northern Superchargers, she smashed a 43-ball century — 101 runs — the fastest hundred in the history of the women's Hundred. She moved to Birmingham Phoenix this season after being the first player drawn at the inaugural Hundred auction in March, joining for £50,000 after two campaigns with the Superchargers.

Perrin says she uses that record century as a confidence booster, a reminder of what she can do on her best day. She also keeps the sport's harsh arithmetic in mind. "You fail more than you succeed in cricket," she said.

That perspective explains why a 52 in a losing cause, three lives offered and one taken, still meant something — a sign that she is finding her feet again after her first real brush with the injured list.