Ashleigh Gardner eyes fearless cricket ahead of 100th T20I and World Cup

Gardner will become the seventh Australian woman to reach the century of T20Is when the team faces the West Indies in St Vincent. The milestone comes at a crucial juncture for Australia, who will be eager to reverse recent semi-final disappointments, a loss to hosts India in the ICC Women's World Cup 2025 and a similar exit against South Africa in the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup.

"I was someone that had no fear, and I guess as I've gotten older and more mature, I've gained more fear in the way that I approach life and just cricket in general," Gardner told Cricket Australia.

"It's trying to harness a little bit of that, not stepping over the line to just being completely reckless, but for me, the brand of cricket that I play, I try and take the game on. So when I'm under the pump, really trying to harness that and channel that. That's when I'm playing my best cricket," she added.

The 28-year-old acknowledged the challenge of translating her stellar ODI performances, three centuries and three fifties at an average of 45.94 since early 2024, into the fast-paced T20 format.

"In this format, my role within the middle-order is challenging at times. You might come in when the team's on top, or you come in when we're not on top. It's summing up the situation really quickly, and finding my gears really fast, and it's probably something that I haven't done overly well in this format for a prolonged period of time," Gardner said.

She has averaged 25.11 in T20Is while playing in the middle-order for Australia.

Gardner sees the upcoming West Indies series as final preparation for the World Cup, drawing parallels to the team's transformative period following the 2017 World Cup.

"If I look back at that 2017 World Cup that we lost, we were just playing really timid cricket, and then we had that evolution of, 'let's try and take the game on, let's be really fearless'. We've bought into that ever since then, and it's almost an unwritten rule when you come into this side, that's the brand of cricket that you play," she noted.

Now co-vice-captain alongside Tahlia McGrath under new skipper Sophie Molineux, Gardner said the team's confidence in its current roster is central to World Cup ambitions.

"I think just having a lot of belief and confidence that the personnel that are here are the right people to win those trophies. She had her own little imprint on the team through that Indian series, but now that she takes full reins, I'm super excited to see where she's going to take the team," she added.

- IANS