Southampton, June 20 (IANS) Ashleigh Gardner said she was pleased to make the most of her return to Australia’s playing XI after scoring a quickfire 58 off 32 balls in their record-equalling Women’s T20 World Cup total against the Netherlands at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on Saturday.

Gardner, who missed Australia’s previous match after suffering an ankle injury, played a key role in helping the six-time champions post 219/6, matching the highest total in Women’s T20 World Cup history. She shared a match-defining partnership with Beth Mooney, who top-scored with 74 before retiring hurt.

“It’s always nice to be able to spend some time out in the middle. I felt like it was a bit of a missed opportunity in that first game, and then obviously missed the second game. So, yeah, plenty of time to spend out in the middle, and had a really good partnership with Beth Mooney, which is really nice,” Gardner said after the innings.

The all-rounder also provided an update on her fitness, brushing aside concerns over the ankle problem that kept her out of Australia’s previous fixture.

“Ankle’s good. Very much strapped. Yeah, it was just a bit of an accident, walking at least. But yeah, we don’t need to talk too much about it,” she said.

Gardner revealed that Australia’s approach against a relatively unfamiliar Netherlands attack was to remain simple and react to each ball on its merits. She credited Mooney’s experience for helping maintain clarity during their aggressive stand.

“We obviously don’t know the Dutch girls that well, so it’s basically taking every ball as it comes, making sure that we’re not overthinking the scenario. And I guess being able to talk with Beth Mooney out there, she’s got so much experience, and we kind of just said to reset every ball.

“And if a ball was in our area, just making sure that we were fully committed to it. So yeah, it was nice to be able to have a big partnership, put our team in a really good position, and then obviously seeing what Georgia Wareham can do at the end and absolutely hit the ball everywhere. So yeah, it was a really nice time to be out in the middle,” she added.

Australia’s total was further boosted by Georgia Wareham’s explosive 41 off just 18 balls, while Annabel Sutherland added a late cameo as the defending champions finished with a daunting score on the board.

Gardner believes Australia’s bowlers are well equipped to defend the massive total and backed both the pace and spin departments to finish the job.

“Absolutely. We’ve obviously got a world-class bowling attack as well, some fantastic spinners, but also our quicks leading from the front, too. So excited to see what they can do. Hopefully there’s a little bit of swing around as well for our quicks and hopefully take 10 wickets,” she said.

Australia will now look to complete a dominant all-round performance as they seek to maintain their unbeaten start to the tournament.

–IANS

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