Record-setting Gardner savours first international century

Ashleigh Gardner has rescued Australia from deep trouble in the third Ashes ODI with a breakthrough first international century.

Gardner arrived in the middle at Bellerive Oval with the Aussies 4-59 in the 15th over after electing to bat first on a used surface.

The allrounder has regained form with the bat since Australia entered a block of 50-over matches over the past six weeks and that continued on Friday as she navigated England's classy spin attack to bring up a half-century from 53 deliveries.

Gardner had posted a career-best 74 against New Zealand in Wellington last month, but went bigger again in Hobart, reaching triple figures at a run-a-ball.

In doing so, she etched her name into the history books, becoming the first Aboriginal woman to hit an international century, and the first woman to hit an ODI hundred batting at No.6.

The Muruwari woman shared a vital 103-run stand with vice-captain Tahlia McGrath, who had been under pressure with the bat after being dropped down the order to No.7 before responding in style with a 38-ball half-century.

Gardner's 102-ball innings, which featured eight fours and a six, finally ended in the 46th over when she holed out to Tammy Beaumont in the deep.

"It's amazing to finally get over that line and score a hundred," Gardner said on broadcast.

"But to be honest, I felt good in patches, but then other times I was caught in over hitting and when you over hit, you don't time the ball as well.

"So I was just trying to go back to basics more often than not and ultimately, I got the bad balls when I was searching for them, and then I was able to put them to the boundary.

"If we look back at the last six ODIs, we've been in a bit of strife at times, and I'm just trying to find a find a way for the team, whether that was with 'Moons' (Beth Mooney), 'Belsy' (Annabel Sutherland) or 'T-Mac' (McGrath), and just focusing on putting on a partnership.

"I think when we're really positive, that's when we are scoring freely and for me today, it was trying to put some pressure back on them, because I just looked back at my last innings, and I was a little bit timid and a little bit of a sitting duck against the spin.

"I was really trying to be proactive against them today and it came off for me in the end."

Her knock continued a solid patch with the bat in ODIs, which started when Gardner struck a half-century in the third one-dayer against India at the WACA Ground last month.

She backed that up with 74 against the White Ferns, and helped steer Australia through a tricky chase in the opening Ashes one-dayer at North Sydney Oval, hitting an unbeaten 42.

While Gardner and McGrath perished with four overs to go, Georgia Wareham finished off the Australian innings in style, hammering an unbeaten 38 off 12 balls to guide her team to 8-308 and leave England needing to pull off their highest ever ODI chase to get their first points of the Ashes series.

Earlier in Australia's innings, Mooney brought up 6000 runs in international cricket, becoming the fifth Australian woman to reach the milestone behind Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy and Karen Rolton.

Commbank Women's Ashes 2025

Australia lead the multi-format series 4-0

First ODI: Australia won by six wickets

Second ODI: Australia won by 21 runs

Third ODI: January 17: Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 10.05am AEDT

First T20I: January 20: SCG, Sydney, 7.15pm AEDT

Second T20I: January 23: Manuka Oval, Canberra, 7.15pm AEDT

Third T20I: January 25: Adelaide Oval, Adelaide, 6.45pm ACDT (7.15pm AEDT)

Australia squad (ODI/T20Is): Alyssa Healy (c), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris+, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath (vc), Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham

England squad (ODI/T20Is): Heather Knight (c), Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Kate Cross*, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Danielle Gibson+, Sarah Glenn, Bess Heath+, Amy Jones, Freya Kemp+, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Linsey Smith+, Danni Wyatt-Hodge

* ODIs only; + T20Is only

Day-night Test: January 30 - February 2: MCG, Melbourne, 2.30pm AEDT

Australia Test squad: TBC

England Test squad: Heather Knight (c), Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Kate Cross, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Bess Heath, Amy Jones, Ryana MacDonald-Gay, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Danni Wyatt-Hodge

The rivalry resumes with a blockbuster series in Australia from Jan 12 - Feb 2. Learn about the remarkable 90-year history at the Women's Ashes Hub