“I feel ready to go again”: Ashleigh Gardner eager to find batting form in white-ball leg against India

Australia’s star all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner is hopeful of finding form with the bat in the upcoming limited-overs series against India. Gardner who is ranked No.2 in the ICC Women’s ODI all-rounder Rankings, is eager to regain form and consistency with the bat after scoring just one half-century in ODIs and T20Is in 2023.

Gardner, who bowled fifty overs in the Test in Mumbai last week, admitted that she was “very sore” the next morning, but insisted that she was “pretty well recovered” on the eve of the ODI series. “I surprisingly recovered quite quickly, I haven’t felt like I bowled 50 overs in a Test match a couple of days ago, so I feel ready to go again,” Gardner was quoted as saying by ICC.

Gardner struggled in the Women’s Big Bash League and admitted to being upset by her hitting performances. She attributed her recent run drought to a lack of clarity in her decision-making rather than a mechanical flaw, and she intended to turn things around in the six future limited-overs contests in India.

“I feel like I’m not that far away, I don’t think it’s technical, it’s just not being able to make clear decisions. In a place like India, you have to be really clear on your gameplan and that’s something that I’m really going to focus on in these last six games over here in India,” she added.

Gardner is brimming with confidence and has the full support of captain Alyssa Healy. The all-rounder anticipated that the confidence she had gained from her bowling would translate to her batting.

“That’s something that I’ve done over the last few years, really tried to hone in on what I’m really good at with the ball and being able to utilise that more often than not. That comes back to Alyssa Healy having a lot of faith in me with the ball at the moment, which has put my confidence in a really good place. I’m in a really good spot with the ball at the moment and hopefully that can transfer over to the bat as well,” Gardner added.