Australia has dominated in the sole Ashes Test against England, with Ashleigh Gardner scoring a record-breaking 12 wickets to help bring Australia to victory.
Australia’s 89 run victory was helped by Gardner’s efforts as she claimed 8-66 in the fourth innings, with England all out for 178 having needed to score 268.
Gardner’s impressive effort broke a record, with her wicket haul being the best figures by an Australian woman, and the second best of all time.
After the win, Gardner commented that Australia’s win proved just how important it is for women to play five days in a Test match.
“I wouldn’t have dreamt of it to be honest,” she says.
“But I guess it just shows that having five days in a Test match to get a result is super important. There was a bit of luck involved – some kept low, some turned, but it was awesome to be able to put a performance on for the team.”
Gardner also did it all while dealing with an injury to her finger she sustained during a warm up match.
“My finger obviously bent backwards where it’s probably not supposed to. It’s almost stretched that ligament a little bit,” Gardner said.
“Adrenaline does funny things and I completely forget about it as soon as the ball was in hand.”
Batter Alyssa Healy also managed to pull of an impressive performance with two broken fingers.
The five-day test match is part of a multi-format series that also includes T20 matches and one-day matches.
Gardner said she had had trouble sleeping the night before because she was so focused on her bowling.
“I was awake at 3am thinking about bowling, which was a bit tragic,” Gardner said. “I was wide awake, literally thinking about how I was going to get the batters out, and I’ve never done that before.”