The allrounder revealed she has been nursing an elbow problem after a matchwinning display to start the Ashes
Valkerie Baynes12-Jan-2025Confidence can go a long way, but it can be quickly over-run and Australia are well aware of both dimensions as they carry the first points of the Women’s Ashes into Tuesday’s second ODI in Melbourne.A four-wicket win led by Ash Gardner’s all-round effort and Alyssa Healy’s half-century in the series opener – worth two points – at North Sydney Oval gave the hosts an early upper hand.But, having gone 6-0 up in the 2023 Ashes in England only to draw eight-all, means this year’s hosts will be checking any natural instinct to feel like they’re properly on top. Adding to their caution will be the fact that England threatened – ever so fleetingly – to make what looked like a straightforward run chase for Australia more difficult than they would have liked.Related
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Alice Capsey’s spilled catch off Ellyse Perry on 7 didn’t prove overly costly after Lauren Bell bowled the dangerous Australian allrounder for 14. But what might have been if Sophie Ecclestone hadn’t dropped Garder, having controlled the ball for a time at mid-off before she tumbled to the ground and it popped out of her grasp, will never be known.At the least it would have provided an intriguing twist if Gardner was dismissed on 31 with Australia needing 22 more runs for victory and what would have been three wickets in hand. As it was, Gardner remained unbeaten on 42 as she and Alana King reeled in the deficit with with 11.1 overs to spare.Gardner and King had also combined with the ball, taking 3 for 19 and 2 for 35 respectively after seamers Kim Garth and Megan Schutt had kept a lid on a nervy England start.For Gardner, it was a continuation of her fine form against India and New Zealand last month after a lean run by her standards with the bat. Against India, she scored fifty and took five wickets in the third ODI, her first international half-century in white-ball cricket since July 2023, her 49 for the Sixers against crosstown rivals Thunder her only innings of note in the most recent WBBL season, where she was more damaging with the ball. She went on to score 74 in the third ODI against New Zealand immediately before this series.”I’ve taken a lot of confidence out of what I was able to do in the New Zealand series,” Gardner said. “To contribute with both bat and ball was something that I wanted to do to start the series off well and take some confidence into the back end of this series. We know that there’s a long way to go in this Ashes series.”We realised that pretty quickly in England last time we were six-nil up and then that got chased down pretty quickly. We could be playing amazing cricket, but England is such a good team and they always find a way.1:19
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“They certainly fought really hard in that series and we know that they’re going to look at this game today and look at the things that they didn’t do too well and the things that they did do well. We know that they’re going to come back firing next game.”Gardner revealed that she has been nursing an elbow problem for a couple of months but insisted it wasn’t an issue.Healy, meanwhile, completed her comeback from a knee injury, scoring 78-ball 70 after returning to wicketkeeping duties for the first time since mid-November in England’s innings.”She’s going to take a lot of confidence out of today,” Gardner said. “Even just watching the way that she was batting through that New Zealand series, she was striking the ball really well and got some starts, but then I think today scoring 70-odd in front of her home crowd as well probably spurs you on as captain, she’s leading from the front.”But I know just from a body point of view that she’s going to take a lot of confidence out of keeping for as long as she did and then being able to back that up at the top of the order, so really pleasing for her and hopefully it’s some signs to come that she can score heaps more runs.”Sometimes you can get caught in chasing a low total, just chasing the total rather than actually just trying to bat properly, and we always speak about if you’re chasing small total, sometimes they’re the hardest to actually chase. Today it will just give our team a lot of confidence. People stood up in different moments, whether that was with bat or the ball, and going forward we can take a lot out of today.”Alyssa Healy made a controlled half-century in the chase•Getty Images
Gardner claimed the important wickets of England’s top-scorer Heather Knight and regular match-winner Nat Sciver-Brunt, both sweeping to Perry at deep midwicket, which will give the tourists something to think about ahead of the next game at Melbourne’s Junction Oval.In fact, it was Australia’s bowling combined with a rash of soft dismissals that restricted England to a below-par score and left them with things to work on.A record crowd for a women’s international at North Sydney Oval of 6236 was a fine start to a series with lofty ambitions for attendance, particularly at the day-night Test at the MCG which closes the contest from January 30.”This is my home ground, I’m from Sydney, I’ve played a lot of cricket here and I’ve played a lot of successful games of cricket here for either the Sixers or Australia,” Gardner said. “So I guess to start the series off in front of what that crowd was, hopefully it leads to more crowds like that throughout the rest of the series.”We are playing at some really cool venues, so to hopefully play some entertaining cricket throughout the series will, fingers crossed, draw people in to come and watch us and hopefully lead to some more success.”