Australia has announced Heather Graham as the temporary replacement for Ashleigh Gardener for tomorrow’s match against Pakistan. The All-rounder has played just one international match for Australia and is relatively new to the international circuit. She hasn’t played international cricket since 2019 when she faced Sri Lanka and took 1 for 29.
The chances of Graham making it into the playing 11 is slim as Australia managed to win the first match against England by 12 runs. Darcie Brown had replaced Gardener in the first match.
Ashleigh Gardener is currently in 10 days Mandatory Isolation Quarantine (MIQ) after testing positive on March 3rd a day before the start of the World Cup and resulting in her missing the first 2 games against England and Pakistan respectively.
Coming into the World Cup, Gardener had scored a 60 against New Zealand in the warm-up matches. She has scored 571 runs in 30 innings and has taken 43 wickets in 39 innings with the ball. She has scored 4 fifties with the best of 67. She scored 152 runs in 2021. She along with Ellyse Perry and Thalia McGrath are the 3 all-rounders in the Aussie side.
Gardener is expected to be back for Australia’s 3rd world cup match against New Zealand at Wellington on Sunday, 13th March.
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