Ash Gardner leads Australia to Ashes Test win at Trent Bridge

On the back of a historic Ash Gardner performance Australia is halfway to reclaiming the Ashes — and a key change has helped put her side in the box seat.

Superstar all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner evolved into frontline spinner to rip through England and break Australia’s eight-year drought in women’s Test cricket with the signature performance of her skyrocketing career.

Gardner claimed the best figures in the history of Australian women’s Test cricket for both innings (8-66) and match (12-165), leading her side to a resounding 89-run final day victory over England at Trent Bridge.

Not since Karen Price in 1984 had an Australian woman taken 10 wickets in a Test, but Gardner – who debuted for Australia as a specialist batter – went even further to decimate England and smash records that have stood in women’s cricket for decades.

Australian women’s cricket great Betty Wilson’s 11-16 against England back in 1958 was the previous watermark for wicket-taking greatness.

Only Neetu David’s 8-53 for India in 1995 and Pakistan’s Shaiza Khan’s 13-226 have claimed better innings and match hauls than Gardner’s extraordinary performance.

Australia are now already halfway towards retaining the Ashes and only need two more limited overs victories to finish the job and add yet another chapter to the unparalleled legacy of this team.

Australia’s women are now halfway to retaining the Ashes. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

The previous three women’s Ashes Tests had finished as a draw with only four days allocated for play.

And Gardner said the value of adding a fifth day was shown in getting a result.

“I wouldn’t have dreamt of it to be honest. I guess it shows to have five days in a Test to get a result is super important,” Gardner said.

“I had a bit of luck with the conditions out there ... I guess I was the lucky one to come away with the wickets.

“As a bowling unit we just said to keep the stumps in play as much as possible. Some balls were bouncing, some balls were rolling. Thankfully for me, some kept low, some turned ... it was awesome to put a performance on for the team.”

Despite all its success, Australia had not won a Test match since 2015 following a run of four consecutive draws against England and India.

But the welcomed move from four day Tests to a full five-dayer proved decisive in producing a result – and enthralling spectacle in Nottingham, with a defiant lone-hand from English veteran Danni Wyatt (54 not out) unable to get her country close enough to revenge for last week’s men’s Baz Ball boilover.

England had eyes on bettering the heroics of Australia’s men last week with 152 to get on the final day, but Gardner blazed through all five wickets that were remaining in under a session.

There was doubt over whether Alyssa Healy would be able to keep wicket in this Test after copping a nasty blow in the warm-up match, but the Australian captain executed an extraordinary stumping to gift Gardner her fifth wicket and break the back of England’s desperate chase.

Healy had failed to take the ball cleanly with England batter Amy Jones out of her ground, but the gun keeper still had the awareness and skill to regather off a juggle and whip the bails off millimeters before Jones could get her bat back into the crease.

Gardner’s previous wicket of Kate Cross also came courtesy of a superb catch from Healy behind the stumps – which she says she barely picked up.

“I feel like if anyone is going to cop it in the eyeball it’s me. I can’t pick it up,” Healy was caught saying on the stump mic.

Gardner feasted on the enormous cracks that opened up at Trent Bridge on the final day, with the off-spinner even managing to turn deliveries the other way and past the outside edge of the right-hand English batters.

Gardner posted historic figures to rip through England’s lower order. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Before heading to England for the Ashes, Gardner admitted to this masthead that she initially struggled with the perceived pressure of being anointed women’s cricket’s highest-paid player with her stunning $558,000 Indian Women’s Premier League deal.

But Gardner has now well and truly got her head around being No. 1, starting the Ashes off with nine wickets in a Test match as well as a first-innings 40 with the bat.

Just days after the buzz of the Australian men’s team’s heroics at Edgbaston, Gardner snuffed out any hope England could execute their own miracle day five chase.

The women’s Ashes series combines all three formats, but a Test victory is worth four points compared to the two points awarded for wins in the ODI and T20I matches.

It means Australia – reigning World Cup champions in ODIs and T20s – only needs two wins out of the six white ball matches to retain the Ashes urn.

Australia’s comprehensive Test victory deserves even greater merit because it came after the shock withdrawal of usual captain Meg Lanning from the tour due to a health issue.

There are so few Test matches played in women’s cricket that each one is precious, and Australia can now justifiably feel they’re queens of all three formats.

The last handful of women’s Tests were tedious draws played out on uninspiring surfaces over four days – but the curator at Trent Bridge delivered a classic Test pitch that allowed batters to dine out in the first innings before the cracks opened up and made batting treacherous.

Originally published as Ash Gardner leads Australia to Ashes Test win at Trent Bridge