Ashleigh Gardner


Ashleigh Gardner is an Australian cricketer who plays for New South Wales Breakers in the Women's National Cricket League and Sydney Sixers in the Australian Women's Big Bash League. In November 2018, she was named in the Sydney Sixers' squad for the 2018–19 Women's Big Bash League season. Gardner is an Indigenous Australian, with her mother coming from the Muruwari people.

International career

She made her Women's Twenty20 International cricket debut against New Zealand on 17 February 2017.
On 2 March 2017, she made her Women's One Day International debut against New Zealand.
|alt=Gardner bowling for Australia during the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup
In June 2017, she became the first Indigenous Australian woman to play in a cricket World Cup, when she represented Australia against Pakistan in the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup.
Gardner played for Australia in the Women's Ashes. In the first ODI she took three wickets in the first innings, then combined with Alex Blackwell in the second innings for a 39 run partnership from just 29 balls. She hit two sixes in her innings and, though she was dismissed after only 18 balls, she had put Australia in a position where they only needed two runs from the final over.
In April 2018, she was one of the fourteen players to be awarded a national contract for the 2018–19 season by Cricket Australia. In October 2018, she was named in Australia's squad for the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies. Ahead of the tournament, she was named as the player to watch in the team.
In April 2019, Cricket Australia awarded her with a contract ahead of the 2019–20 season. In June 2019, Cricket Australia named her in Australia's team for their tour to England to contest the Women's Ashes. She made her Test debut for Australia against England women on 18 July 2019. In January 2020, she was named in Australia's squad for the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup in Australia.