Fun, fearlessness and first-rate talent can often be a winning combination, and in world No 1 allrounder Ashleigh Gardner, cricket has a fine example. A three-time World Cup winner, Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Ashes winner and WBBL champion, the 25-year-old has won pretty much everything there is to be won on the field.
Away from it, few cricketers speak their mind with as much candour as the Muruwari woman and the fence she is used to clearing with a bat in hand rarely finds Gardner sitting on it. Just the second female Aboriginal cricketer to represent Australia after Faith Thomas, she has made clear her commitment to empowering Indigenous youth, in particular through her Ashleigh Gardner Foundation.
And now, carrying an eye-watering $558,000 valuation after being picked by the Gujarat Giants for the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL) in India, Gardner is well on course to becoming cricket royalty with a reach capable of inspiring many in Australia and beyond.
“It will be a delightful thing to have her around with our WPL team,” says the Gujarat bowling coach, Nooshin Al Khadeer. “We were quite clear about having her around with her experience and the game she can get – it’s very helpful for this format.”
On auction day, a fierce bidding war culminated in Gujarat securing Gardner’s services for north of half-a-million dollars. She watched it unfold live on her phone alongside teammates Kim Garth and Megan Schutt after a training session at St George’s Park.
Over in Mumbai, among those present at the Giants auction table was Al Khadeer, who recently oversaw India’s title-winning campaign at the inaugural Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup. Alongside her were former India captain, team mentor and advisor Mithali Raj, and head coach Rachael Haynes, the former Australia captain with whom Gardner shared the dressing room until last year.
Al Khaader, who has worked extensively with women’s domestic teams in India, believes Gardner brings the kind of value that could benefit the entire playing group at Giants.
“Over the years, if you look at her stats, she has actually improved a lot, in the sense that with her experience and what she can bring – it’s not just about skills – which she can share with all of her Gujarat Giants teammates … those are the aspects we’re looking at.
“I am looking forward to working with her to understand more what she can get to the table and the best possible ways to see how the team goes ahead to play some competitive cricket.”
Gardner’s evolution has been witnessed first hand by evergreen allrounder Ellyse Perry, given the pair have shared the Sydney Sixers dressing room since the WBBL’s inaugural season.
“Ash is a phenomenal player,” says Perry. “It’s well-documented but her growth as well as a player has been amazing. [I was] fortunate enough to play with Ashleigh in her first WBBL campaign with the Sixers. And I don’t think she’s looked back since then.
“Year on year, she’s just got better and better. Probably what stands out to me the most now is the contribution that she’s making with the bowling. I think that’s added to the obvious power that she possesses as a batter and ability to take games away there. Now the consistency in her bowling and what she’s contributing during our fielding innings just makes her such a threat.”
Al Khadeer agrees. One of only three Indians to take 100 ODI wickets, the 42-year-old remains one of the game’s finest proponents of offspin. In her view, Gardner’s efficacy as an all-weather offspinner makes her stand out.
“In a format like T20, you need a bowler like Gardner who can bowl in all three phases of the innings: powerplay, middle overs, and at the death,” she says. “That actually makes her quite special. She’s right on top of the ball, with the kind of revolution she imparts.
“She can impart a lot of turn on any kind of wicket and the areas where she pitches the ball is quite effective. Her adaptation to the game has made her quite special.”
On the slightly two-paced surfaces of the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai and Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium – where the WPL will be played starting 4 March – Gardner’s spin can cause the opposition significant headaches. Her seven wickets as the joint-highest wicket-taker during Australia’s five-match T20I tour across the same grounds in December hands her the edge even before she’s got the ball in her hand for the Giants.
Add her 115 runs from three innings averaging 57.50 during that series, and there is little to stop Gardner from stamping her authority on the tournament.
“She has every facet of the game covered off and really, it’s just perfectly built for T20 cricket,” Perry says. “But the consistency she has for that now has probably made her as rich as what she is.”
Rich, in every sense of word, is a fitting description. Gardner’s WPL auction payday eclipsed that of the 13 other Australians, Perry included, who were snapped up across the five franchises of a tournament tipped to be a “game-changer” in women’s sport. She was the joint second-most expensive buy at the auction, alongside England allrounder Nat Sciver, and second only to India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana.
Gardner’s pay for the 23-day league is more than what Matildas star Sam Kerr earns in a season with Chelsea, more than the WNBA’s top earner Jackie Young, and more than some of the most feted male cricketers plying their trade at franchises across the globe.
With women “starting to have a really strong presence in the Indian market and also in the Indian game,” in Perry’s words, if Gardner comes even remotely close to justifying her WPL price tag, her value could skyrocket further on Indian shores. For now though, as her teammate Georgia Wareham made clear in South Africa a day after the auction, “It’s definitely going to be Ash’s shout for the rest of the tour for sure”.
