Indore, Oct 1 (IANS) Ashleigh Gardner’s match-winning 115 off 83 balls and Australia’s all-round depth powered the defending champions to a commanding 89-run win over New Zealand in their Women’s ODI World Cup opener at Holkar Stadium. After the game was over, Ashleigh said her mindset was to score runs off as many balls as possible.

“It was really special. Obviously, when I got out into the middle, I had some pretty clear plans just to get myself in, stick to my strengths, but also score off as many balls as possible. We always knew we needed a big total here; obviously, the venue is quite small, and the wicket was really good. So, making sure that once I got in, I really capitalised. Then knowing that we had 320 on the board, we had something to defend,” she said after getting the Player of the Match award.

Ashleigh’s knock – her maiden World Cup century and second in ODIs – was the centrepiece of Australia’s recovery. While hitting 16 fours and a six at a strike-rate of 138.55, she also became the first player to hit a century batting at number six or lower in a women’s ODI World Cup.

“I’m just trying to keep my game as simple as possible. Feels like when I’m hitting the boundary riders really hard and running my runs hard as well, it really gets me into my innings. And then for me, if I can cash in on those moments with a boundary, that’s how my innings gets started.”

“We bat genuinely all the way down, so we have that freedom and confidence, where even if we are five down for not too many, we have the players to come in and change the game. For me, I love coming into those situations and just taking the game on. And hopefully the success comes with it,” she added.

Acknowledging Sophie Devine’s counterattacking 112, Ashleigh added, “I guess you look at how Sophie Devine batted, she batted brilliantly, made it really tough for our bowlers to settle. I think that’s going to be a pretty big trend for this World Cup, just making sure you have plenty of runs on the board.”

Australia captain Alyssa Healy praised Ashleigh’s maturity and the team’s ability to post a formidable total despite stumbling to 128/5. “While Soph was going, you never feel comfortable, but credit to the girls for hanging in there. It’s a balance, yeah, but we’ll probably reflect as a batting group on where we can be a bit more precise.”

“Gardner is just continuing to mature as a cricketer, and it’s really impressive to watch. And the fact that the middle order can get runs when we’re in strife is a huge, as well as the lower order making runs for us. Awesome that Sophie can also bowl for us in the Power-play. Annabel also finally found her length out there and got rewarded for it.”

For New Zealand skipper Sophie, her ninth ODI century was a personal milestone, but the result left her with a bittersweet feeling. “It’s bittersweet to be fair, I’d throw it all away to make sure we won. Just happy with the fight this team showed. A couple of years ago, we would have thrown the towel in pretty early. But it’s a hard one, you wanna be on the winning team, so hard to digest at the moment.”

She also said the other batters showed some misjudgments in assessing lines and lengths. “It shows the mindset of the group that we stay in the fight. We probably missed the line and length a bit on a flat surface. I just think the way players are able to adapt and play their role is what is making this team at the moment.”

–IANS

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