Australia wary of threats from Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin in semi-final vs. West Indies

Here is the full transcript of Ash Gardner’s pre- Australia vs West Indies semi-final press conference

(Reporter:)

Congratulations on a great win and a great collaboration. How much – how would you rate this partnership? One of the best you’ve been a part of at this level?

(Ash Gardner:)

Oh, it’s definitely up there. I have been playing cricket with Pez for over 10 years now so we understand each other very well. And I think we have a mutual trust in each other that whatever we say in the middle, it’s almost the responsibility part where we’ve been really specific and deliberate in the way we’ve talked in the middle today. And yeah, I think just understanding each other’s games and giving each other options. So there are not too many other people in this unit that I have played so much cricket with. So yeah, having that, yeah, it’s pretty cool.

(Reporter:)

Ash, the run rate was a bit like 10+ and got into the 11s and 12s at certain stages, especially in the early innings. How was the trust between you and Pez when it came to staying on top? She talked about really focusing on the early stages of the overs, how important that was and how to just slowly chip away at that total?

(Ash Gardner:)

Yeah, I just think in T20 cricket, yeah, that’s kind of the focus, not thinking about the whole, it’s, breaking it down. Because as a bowler you know if you get hit by a boundary in the first 2 balls you have to win through the back. And sometimes it can be quite complicated. So from a batting perspective, I think I’m going to put the pitcher under pressure right away and then just capitalize on the rest of the game and try to make it really big. And I think when we had no choice but to keep scoring at 10s, we knew that’s what we had to do, pick the ends to try and target, pick the pitchers. Respecting good balls, but also trying to get out of the shot. So yeah, for us it was just being able to build the platform that I think was set for them from the previous at-bats and then just, I think, play to our strengths knowing that we have so much firepower behind us as well. So for us there was a lot of flexibility in our contract because we have so many players who can do their jobs. And of course today we were lucky enough to spend a lot of time in the middle and hopefully build a lot of confidence going into the semi-final.

(Reporter:)

It was clearly the best innings of the tournament so far for yourself. And after maybe not bowling to your liking, how important was the responsibility for you to contribute with the bat in that way to such an impressive partnership?

(Ash Gardner:)

Yeah, I think T20 cricket is funny, where I think when I think about the ball, you’re the one who bowls hard overs and you expect the players to take you. And I think when you put on the batting hat, you want to do it back. And you want to—I think for me, as a well-rounded person, you have the opportunity to do both. And I think I’m going to try to get that momentum back personally. So for me it wasn’t that I needed to bat well, it was more about how to set up the innings to put my team in a winning position. And also the opportunity to spend some time in the middle for confidence. You know cricket is a fun game where sometimes it is very humiliating. And I think if you can try and try to get that confidence and basically spend as much time in the middle as you can and put your team in a position to win. I think that’s all our team asked of every player, is just to get into the game. How we do it will look different for everyone. But I think for Pez and I, we tried to do it in our own unique way, but also quite briefly.

(Reporter:)

Last quick one for me. Now you and Pez have played a lot of T20 cricket, both in green and gold and purple. Has she ever been batted as well as she is now? He seems to have quite a noble nickname.

(Ash Gardner:)

Yeah, it’s like red wine. I think he’s just someone who keeps getting better and better. And I’m just thinking about the development of her game. He knows the global game has moved at such a fast pace, and that doesn’t calm or slow anyone down. So he knows he has to keep up with that pace. And I think just watching the way he approaches the game, the mental side of it and just being really brave. I feel like it can be quite difficult sometimes, at times when you feel like you don’t have that confidence, but she’s someone who always tries to take over the game. And I think for someone with so much experience and so much willingness to keep developing, it just shows younger players like me that there’s no real ceiling. And yes, she’s a fantastic leader in our group, in this space, but also in general.

(Reporter:)

Ash, how important was it for the side to have a match that really pushed you and to get off your best and head into the knockouts?

(Ash Gardner:)

Yeah, we definitely knew we were in for a challenge today. I feel that every battle we have with India is definitely going to the end and today was no exception. And we know the class collective that they are, so we knew to expect that and it was just a matter of who handled it better. I think there’s been a lot of talk throughout this tournament, we’ve done a lot of work off the field as a unit and I think we’ve bought a lot into the pressure side of things. We know every team will face pressure. It’s just a matter of who can do it best. And for us, we know we have so many match winners in our side. We have so much depth and there is so much belief in our team that if we play our best cricket we can win every game. So for us, it’s just being able to believe it, even when the going gets tough. It’s just being able to come back to it, which is really cool.

(Reporter:)

And then just a few words about the West Indies, your other opponents. They’ve probably had a tougher campaign to get to this point, but what do you think of them as competition?

(Ash Gardner:)

Yeah, they’re a completely different threat. You know, they have a lot of class and a lot of firepower in their team. A lot of experience too, obviously led brilliantly by Hayley Matthews, who is a player who can play the game quite quickly. But then you look at someone like Deandra Dottin, he’s a threat in all three phases of the game. She is a fantastic player. I’ve had the privilege of playing with her and I think just seeing how she approaches her cricket, she’s so fearless that she approaches it, which can be quite scary at times because she can hit the switch quite quickly. But then just seeing the, I think, also the inexperience that they have and the rawness that they have on their side. So yes, they are definitely a different threat. But luckily we played a series against them recently. So I think we can do our homework in terms of how we approach a new place, a fast place that’s really nice to hit. So for us, it’s that we can do homework really quickly because we have a day to do it. And then a really quick turnaround and then just really looking forward to the opportunity.

(Reporter:)

The dismissal of the left-arm spinners in Radha Yadav and Sri Charini was particularly spectacular, led by you and of course Ellyse Perry. Talk to us, any particular approach you had, especially knowing the tournament Sri Charani had and generally left-arm spinners are the toast of the season, especially in this tournament, right?

(Ash Gardner:)

Yeah, I think it’s being able to respect every pitcher for what he’s done. And watching Sri throughout this whole campaign was amazing. And I think for us as batsmen it’s able to deter them from what they did. And I think the great thing that we have in our lineup is that we have guys that can hit all around the ground. And as a right-hander, having an offside approach to a deflected ball is of course really useful. So being able to do that, either by cutting depth or actually going to the pitcher.

So I think it can be disruptive for us because I feel like when Charani bowled really well, she settled on the length and dictated the terms. So for us, it’s the ability to turn it around. We want to dictate as batsmen. Plus, she’s a young player, so there’s a bit of inexperience. So hopefully as an experienced player you can try to get on her and then put her under pressure and then she’ll potentially throw things at you that she hasn’t done before. So I think we saw a little bit of that today. She has moved on to other plans and that may put her under pressure, a period she probably hasn’t experienced during the tournament.