Australia led by the stand-in skipper Tahlia McGrath hosted India led by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur for a three-match bilateral ODI series from 5th to 11th December 2024.
The visitors India suffered a heart-breaking whitewash in the ODI series ahead of the upcoming ICC Women’s ODI World Cup in India, next year in 2025, have a lot of questions to answer.
Leading up to this series, the 27-year-old veteran Australian all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner was struggling to find form, especially with the bat in the ODIs. She had scores of 8 and 0 in the first couple of games in the recently concluded ODI series against India. However, she rode her fair share of luck to return to form with a well-compiled half-century (50 off 64 balls), her first since July 2023.
Gardner’s composed knock bailed Australia out of trouble alongside Annabel Sutherland (110 off 95 balls) en route to their 96-run 5th wicket stand. What made her knock even more significant was the fact that it came after an immaculate spell from the 27-year-old Indian all-rounder Arundhati Reddy. Ashleigh Gardner also completed 1,000 ODI runs for Australia, en route to her match-defining innings.
Since making her debut in the format on 2nd March 2017 against New Zealand at Mount Maunganui, she has scored 1,031 runs at a strike rate of 109.33 and a decent average of 25.77 in 50 innings with the bat for her side in the format so far. Her tally of runs includes six half-centuries with a high score of 67 against India on 26th September 2021 in the 3rd ODI of the series at Ray Mitchell Oval, Harrup Park, Mackay.
To cap off a memorable day in the field, Gardner also picked up a five-wicket haul en route to her game-changing spell (10-1-30-5) in the 3rd ODI at the W.A.C.A, Perth. Courtesy of her impressive performance in the 3rd ODI, she joined an elite list of players to accomplish a fifty-plus score and also pick up a five-wicket haul in the same ODI, after the England skipper Heather Knight did it against Pakistan at Leicester, in 2016, the former South African skipper Sune Luus against Ireland at Dublin, in 2016, and Melie Kerr from New Zealand did it against Ireland at Dublin in 2018.
Notably, Gardner is the first Australian to achieve this remarkable feat in ODIs, and it was also her maiden five-wicket haul in the format. Her five victims included the likes of the Indian vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Minnu Mani, Saima Thakor, and Arundhati Reddy. The big scalp of a well-set Indian vice-captain Smriti Mandhana (105 off 109 balls), who had also completed her 9th ODI century and her 4th in a calendar year in the ODI format, becoming the first woman to do so. Her departure triggered a horrible collapse as the visitors lost their last six wickets for just 26 runs, getting bundled out for 215, with 29 balls to spare, as a result, falling 83 runs short of the target.
Gardner has always been handy with the ball in hand for her side over the years with 96 wickets at an impressive average of 20.91 and a sensational economy of 4.12 in 68 innings.
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