Confidence key as Gardner rediscovers T20 best

3h ago Laura Jolly, at The Oval, London

After in interrupted run in the shortest format, Ashleigh Gardner is peaking ahead of the T20 World Cup final

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Ashleigh Gardner is rediscovering her best in the shortest format at the right time, as she helps spearhead Australia's push for a seventh T20 World Cup title.

Gardner backed up her heroics against India at Lord's with a standout all-round effort in Tuesday's semi-final against the West Indies at The Oval, taking 2-13 from four overs before hitting an unbeaten 35 from 20 deliveries.

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It followed her 53no from 29 deliveries against India, and the 58 she struck against the Netherlands in Southampton.

The Australia vice-captain endured a frustrating run in the shortest format between T20 World Cups.

She played just five out of the 12 matches Australia played across that period from January 2025 to March 2026, with three separate injuries curtailing her availability.

Gardner missed all three Ashes T20Is in January last year due to a calf strain, while a finger injury ended her T20I tour of New Zealand two months later after one match.

Australia did not play another T20I until their home multi-format series against India in February and while Gardner featured in all three games, she was then forced to miss two matches against the West Indies a month later with a hamstring issue.

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Those constant setbacks hampered the allrounder's ability to build momentum in the shortest format, scoring 72 runs in four innings at a strike rate of 116, and taking three wickets at 33 across those five scattered appearances.

It was a run that coincided with Gardner's career-best form in one-day cricket, where she scored three hundreds in 2025 and rose to the No.1 spot in the ODI allrounder rankings.

A sprained ankle again forced Gardner to sit out Australia's group game against Bangladesh earlier in the tournament, but speaking on Tuesday, she said she finally felt she was building confidence in the format.

"I hadn't put a T20 series together for quite a while," Gardner said on Tuesday.

"In this format of the game it's almost the confidence that you take from just being able to spend some time out in the middle goes a really long way, and not having that was really frustrating.

"But I guess where my game's at at the moment, I'm just trying to keep it super simple.

"I feel like I'm a massive overthinker, so when I'm doing that, I'm probably too clouded in my decision-making or my judgments.

"So I'm just trying to keep my cricket as simple as possible, whether that's with bat or ball. So for me, it's working at the moment, hopefully another performance on Sunday.

"Looking from the team perspective, whenever I get the opportunity, I just want to put the team in winning position with both bat and ball, and then have an impact on the field as well."

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Gardner's all-round skills will again play a major role in Australia's plans for Sunday's final at Lord's, against either England or South Africa.

Teammate Beth Mooney said on Tuesday she had also noticed the uptick in Gardner's confidence after her batting displays in the tournament so far, which are now crossing over to her off-spin.

"She's been a critical player for us for a long period of time, Ash, and she batted beautifully against India at Lord's the other day.

"She gets a lot of confidence from that and I think we saw that (against the West Indies) with the ball.

"She bowled beautifully and took wickets at critical times.

"We know the threat that she poses to other teams, and we're very lucky to have her at our disposal in our team and certainly going into the pointy end of the competition, it's always good to have all your players in good form."

ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026

Australia squad: Sophie Molineux (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton, Grace Harris, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham. Travelling reserve: Tahlia Wilson