It’s been revealed that Aussie cricketers Ashleigh Gardner and Alyssa Healy both battled through serious hand injuries as they played starring roles in Australia’s Ashes Test win at Trent Bridge.
Gardner was the star of Australia’s 89-run victory over England, bagging 8-66 in the fourth innings to help bowl England out for 178 and end their pursuit of 268.
The haul left her with the best-ever figures for a single innings in a women’s Test by an Australian, and the second best of all time behind Neetu David’s 8-53 for India against England in 1995.
Gardner’s two-innings haul of 12-165 was also the second best in history to Shaiza Khan’s 13-226 for Pakistan in 2004.
But even more impressively, she did it with serious damage to her right index finger.
Ashleigh Gardner, who took 12 wickets, played a blinder despite suffering with ligament damage to her spinning finger
Australian skipper Alyssa Healy played the match with two fractured fingers, taking crucial catches and scoring a crucial half-century in the second innings
Gardner was hit on the end of the finger during slips practice for Australia’s warm-up match against England A, causing ligament damage and robbing her of the chance to bowl before the Test.
Australian skipper Alyssa Healy has stunningly revealed she played the Test with two fractured fingers, using painkilling injections to get through the five-day challenge.
The 33-year-old had trouble holding the bat at times during the second innings, but still managed to score a crucial half century.
‘This is what I’ve been dealing with for the last seven days leading into the Test match,’ she told media.
‘It is what it is, it’s exactly what happens as a wicketkeeper, you get knocks on the fingers.
‘Unfortunately for me, it was one on each hand so it made it incredibly difficult, in particular batting, being able to grip the bat after keeping for 110 overs.
‘We’ll just reassess with it during the weekend and make sure I’m ready to go in Birmingham.’
Gardner, who was named player of the match, explained how she suffered the injury to her spinning finger.
‘My finger obviously bent backwards where it’s probably not supposed to. It’s almost stretched that ligament a little bit,’ Gardner said.
Gardener says adrenaline made her forget about the injury once the ball was in her hand
Because of the injury to her spinning finger, Gardner wasn’t able to train before the match – but despite that, she took a record-breaking haul that drove the Aussies to victory
‘Adrenaline does funny things and I completely forget about it as soon as the ball was in hand.
‘So as soon as I wasn’t bowling [at Trent Bridge], I put a splint straight on it, just to protect it because in the field is where I’m more likely to get hit.
‘It was quite frustrating but because I didn’t get that match practice in before the Test.
‘It was about trusting what I’d already done, I wasn’t going to lose a skill overnight. And know my good stuff was good enough.’
Gardner took all five of England’s remaining wickets on day five to finish off the hosts, ending any chance of the chase and putting Australia in control of the multi-format series.
She also did it off little sleep, after her mind was fixated on finishing off the match.
‘I was awake at 3am thinking about bowling, which was a bit tragic,’ Gardner said.
Gardner was the star of Australia’s 89-run victory over England at Trent Bridge, bagging 8-66 in the fourth innings to help bowl England out for 178
Healy used painkillers to get through the match and said she had trouble gripping the bat after breaking a finger on each hand
‘I was wide awake, literally thinking about how I was going to get the batters out and I’ve never done that before.’
Gardner’s performance marked a coming-of-age for her with the ball.
Bowling on a deteriorating day-five pitch for the first time, the 27-year-old took wickets with balls that went straight on, spun sharply, stayed low and reared up.
Once picked as a powerhouse batter, Gardner has now developed into a genuine allrounder and a frontline spinner.
‘It has been something that I’ve worked really hard on,’ Gardner said.
‘With both bat and ball, it’s about consistency.
‘I feel like I can play both roles in attacking and then trying to defend with the ball as well. It’s asking the captain, ‘what do you want me to do?’ at that point in time.
‘Today is something I’m going to remember for the rest of my life, and certainly for the rest of my career.’
BEST BOWLING INNINGS FIGURES IN WOMEN’S TESTS
Neetu David (India): 8-53 vs England, 1995
Ashleigh Gardner: (Australia): 8-66 vs England, 2023
Mary Duggan (England): 7-6 vs Australia, 1958
BEST BOWLING MATCH FIGURES IN WOMEN’S TEST
Shaiza Khan (Pakistan): 13-226 vs West Indies, 2004
Ashleigh Gardner (Australia) 12-165 vs England, 2023
Betty Wilson (Australia) 11-16 vs England, 1958
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