Ash Gardner, you absolute hero.
The harmful all-rounder steered Australia to a tense three-wicket victory towards India after a horror batting collapse in Friday night’s Commonwealth Video games opener at Edgbaston.
Gardner, the reigning Belinda Clark Award recipient, struck an unbeaten 52 from 35 balls to assist the gold medal favourites chase the 155-run goal with six balls to spare in Birmingham.
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Indian seamer Renuka Singh tore by way of Australia’s top-order throughout the Powerplay, claiming 4/18 in a surprising four-over spell.
The 26-year-old eliminated wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy for a second-ball duck within the first over of the run chase earlier than dismissing opener Beth Mooney and rival skipper Meg Lanning cheaply quickly after.
Then within the fifth over, Singh despatched all-rounder Tahlia McGrath again to the sheds for 14 with an absolute peach that nipped previous the right-hander’s inside edge and crashed into leg stump.
The Aussies have been instantly reeling at 4/41 on the finish of the Powerplay, and their woes deepened when vice-captain Rachael Haynes chipped a regulation catch in direction of backward level within the eighth over.
Extremely, Singh had solely taken three wickets in T20 internationals earlier than Friday’s demolition, with career-best figures of 1/23 earlier than the Commonwealth Video games.
However the right-armer has confirmed why she’s a harmful weapon in English situations, getting the brand new ball to hoop wildly throughout the Powerplay.
Queensland all-rounder Grace Harris, batting in a T20 worldwide for the primary time since March 2016, pummelled an entertaining 37 off 20 balls to maintain Australia within the contest, combining with Gardner for an important 51-run partnership.
Indian spinner Deepti Sharma then held onto a miraculous return catch to take away Jess Jonassen for 3 within the fifteenth over.
Australia wanted 36 runs from the ultimate 4 overs with solely three wickets to spare — most cricket pundits would have tipped India because the favourites.
However Gardner expertly counterattacked on the loss of life — after scoring 10 runs from her first 16 deliveries, she smacked 42 off her subsequent 18 balls.
It was the primary time in ladies’s T20Is the place a staff efficiently chased a goal after being 5 down with greater than 100 runs nonetheless required.
Earlier, India registered a staff whole of 8/154 with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur scoring an aesthetic half-century.
Jonassen was the chief destroyer with the ball, claiming 4 wickets to stem the circulation of runs within the center overs.
The veteran tweaker joins Ellyse Perry and Josh Hazlewood in an illustrious checklist of Australians to take 4 or extra wickets in a T20 worldwide on 4 events.
In the meantime, Healy grew to become the primary cricketer to assert 100 dismissals in T20 internationals — males’s or ladies’s.
Australia will subsequent face Barbados at Edgbaston on Monday at 3am AEST.
Initially revealed as Ash Gardner’s unbeaten half-century steers Australia to victory in Commonwealth Video games opener
