Ash Gardner\u2019s blistering unbeaten century helped Australia to a stunning six-wicket win over England at the ICC Women\u2019s Cricket World Cup 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 28-year-old blasted 104 not out from just 73 balls to help the seven-time champions recover from 68 for four chasing 245 runs for victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gardner\u2019s exploits were part of an unbroken 180-run fifth-wicket stand with Annabel Sutherland (98*) after the pair had earlier starred with the ball to restrict England to 244 for nine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tammy Beaumont\u2019s 78 had given England a target they felt comfortable defending but Gardner and Sutherland had other ideas as Australia moved back to the top of the group stage table following the triumph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having been put into bat by stand-in Australian captain Tahlia McGrath \u2013 deputising for the injured Alyssa Healy – England looked to take the game to their great rivals early on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beaumont\u2019s six in the just the second over signalled their intent as the 34-year-old and Amy Jones crashed multiple early boundaries on their way to an opening stand of 55.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Megan Schutt and Kim Garth toiled, the introduction of Sutherland (3\/60) broke the opening stand as she produced a swinging delivery to knock over Jones for 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beaumont went to her first fifty of the competition with a delightfully timed cut through backward point after Heather Knight \u2013 the centurion in England\u2019s four-run win over India \u2013 departed for 20 after being given out LBW to Sophie Molineux on review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alana King removed skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt for seven as she and Gardner (2\/39) stifled the middle part of England\u2019s innings and made scoring difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The return of Sutherland to the attack sparked the loss of three quick wickets as England slipped from 147 for three to 166 for six in a 4.3 over blitz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First to go was Beaumont after she holed out to Georgia Voll, who took a smart catch at the second attempt, on the boundary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Emma Lamb became Sutherland\u2019s third victim when she was bowled by a slower ball before Gardner had Sophia Dunkley stumped by Beth Mooney for 22 after the batter misread a flighted delivery trying to heave the ball into the legside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Australia looked to turn the screw, England fought back through Alice Capsey and Charlie Dean with the duo producing a valuable 61-run stand for the seventh wicket to push the score above and beyond 200.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The pair eventually fell within three balls of one another as Molineux pinned Capsey leg before for 38 and Gardner had Dean caught at cover for 26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sophie Ecclestone\u2019s late seven-ball cameo \u2013 which included a boundary off the final ball of the innings after Linsey Smith had been run out \u2013 added 10 vital runs to England\u2019s total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In response, Australia\u2019s top order was rocked by devastating opening spells from Lauren Bell and Linsey Smith to leave the reigning champions 24 for three inside six overs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Phoebe Litchfield had her off-stump knocked back by Bell just three balls into their chase before Smith accounted for Voll and Ellyse Perry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A brilliant catch by Sciver-Brunt at mid-wicket sent Mooney back to the pavilion for 20 but Sutherland and Gardner wrestled the game back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sutherland\u2019s thunderous slog-sweep for six highlighted the momentum shift within the game and she went to her half century, from 66 balls, by drilling Dean through the covers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gardner followed suit by pulling Sciver-Brunt to the rope at backward square leg to bring up her second World Cup fifty as Australia assumed a position of complete control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three boundaries from Gardner\u2019s blade in the 36th over, took Australia past 200 and their target to under 50.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The duo continued to look imperious at the crease and Gardner duly wrapped up the match with a lofted drive to the rope having gone to her second century of this year\u2019s World Cup the over before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tahlia McGrath hailed the impact of Annabel Sutherland after the all-rounder helped Australia pull off the remarkable six-wicket victory over England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe’s such a gun,\u201d said McGrath, who was standing in as captain for the injured Alyssa Healy. \u201cIt\u2019s scary how young she still is. She\u2019s one of our hardest trainers. Her planning is meticulous, and whenever we\u2019re in trouble, you sort of just turn to Bells, she\u2019s that good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know when I get in, I cash in,\u201d said Sutherland, who was named Player of the Match. \u201cI just try to trust my game. I\u2019ve been tinkering with a few things mentally and I just try to give myself the best chance early on in my innings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wanted to have some time in the middle. I feel like once I got in, it was actually a really nice wicket to bat on. There was a fast outfield and you get value for runs. I tried to get myself in and stay busy with my partner up the other end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gardner hit the winning runs with a lofted drive to the rope having gone to her second century of this year\u2019s World Cup the over before following her 115 against New Zealand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The dominant triumph, which was wrapped up with more than nine overs remaining, highlighted the importance of Sutherland and Gardner\u2019s stand and the centurion was delighted to be part of the match-winning partnership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said: \u201c[I\u2019m feeling] lots of happiness. When you bat in the middle order, you can either come in when you\u2019re four for a lot or four for not many. We always speak about building big partnerships, and I guess when I got out there with Bells, she had a pretty good read of the wicket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was about making sure that I was really clinical and trying to get off strike for starters. Then, If I got a ball in my area, making sure that I was capitalising on that as well. It showed [today] the longer you\u2019re out there, the easier it got.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The result marks England\u2019s first defeat of the tournament but captain Sciver-Brunt remains confident that if her charges were to meet Australia again in the knockout stages, they\u2019d be ready for the challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said: \u201cAbsolutely [we\u2019re still positive of what lies ahead]. We\u2019ll review this game very carefully and make sure we take the positives and the learnings as well. Coming up against a quality side, you have to be really good for the whole game, and we weren\u2019t as good as Australia today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut definitely [I think we can beat Australia]. We weren\u2019t at our best today, but I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve played our best game yet. We\u2019ll be ready for them if we meet them again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n England 244\/9 from 50.0 overs (Tammy Beaumont 78, Alice Capsey 38; Annabel Sutherland 3\/60, Ash Gardner 2\/39)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Australia 248\/4 from 40.3 overs (Ash Gardner 104*, Annabel Sutherland 98*; Linsey Smith 2\/43, Lauren Bell 1\/48)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Result: Australia won by six wickets<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ash Gardner\u2019s blistering unbeaten century helped Australia to a stunning six-wicket win over England at the ICC Women\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[69],"class_list":["post-5027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-cricket"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2020_ICC_W_T20_WC_A_v_SL_02-24_Gardner_01.jpg",889,1118,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2020_ICC_W_T20_WC_A_v_SL_02-24_Gardner_01-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2020_ICC_W_T20_WC_A_v_SL_02-24_Gardner_01-239x300.jpg",239,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2020_ICC_W_T20_WC_A_v_SL_02-24_Gardner_01-768x966.jpg",640,805,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2020_ICC_W_T20_WC_A_v_SL_02-24_Gardner_01-814x1024.jpg",640,805,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2020_ICC_W_T20_WC_A_v_SL_02-24_Gardner_01.jpg",889,1118,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2020_ICC_W_T20_WC_A_v_SL_02-24_Gardner_01.jpg",889,1118,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2020_ICC_W_T20_WC_A_v_SL_02-24_Gardner_01-825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2020_ICC_W_T20_WC_A_v_SL_02-24_Gardner_01-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Newsbeat<\/a>","tag_info":"Newsbeat","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2020_ICC_W_T20_WC_A_v_SL_02-24_Gardner_01.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5027"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5028,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5027\/revisions\/5028"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}