Australia wary of Hayley Matthews, Deandra Dottin threats in semis vs West Indies

Here's the full transcript of Ash Gardner's press conference before the Australia vs West Indies semifinal 

[Reporter:]

Congratulations on a great win and a great partnership. How much— how would you rate this partnership? One of the best that you've been involved in at this level? 

[Ash Gardner:]

Oh, it's definitely up there. I've played cricket with Pez for well over 10 years now, so we have a great understanding of each other's games. And, I guess we've got that trust in each other that whatever we say in the middle, it's almost that accountability piece where, we were really specific and deliberate in the way that we were speaking out in the middle today. And yeah, I guess just understanding each other's games, giving each other options also out there. So there's not too many other people within this unit that I've played that much cricket with. So yeah, to have that, yeah, is pretty cool. 

[Reporter:]

Ash, the run rate was sort of 10+ getting to 11s and 12s at certain stages there, especially early innings. What was the confidence like between you and Pez in terms of staying on top of the chase? She spoke about really targeting the early stages of overs, how important was that and kind of just slowly chipping away at that total?

[Ash Gardner:]

Yeah, I just think in T20 cricket, yeah, that's kind of the focus is, not thinking about the whole over, it's, breaking it down. Because you know as a bowler, if you get hit for a boundary in the first 2 balls, you kind of got to win the over back. And sometimes that can be quite tricky. So, from a batting perspective, I guess to put the bowler under pressure straight away and then to just keep capitalizing on the rest of the over, trying to make it a really big one. And I guess for us, when we had no other option there to keep scoring at 10s, we knew that that was what we needed to do, choosing ends to try and target, choosing bowlers. Respecting good balls but also trying to get off strike as well. So yeah, for us it was just being able to build that platform, which I think was set for them from the batters before, and then just, I guess, leveraging off what our strengths are, knowing that we've got so much firepower behind us as well. So for us, there was a lot of flexibility within our order that we have so many players that can do a job. And today, obviously, we were lucky enough to spend a lot of time out in the middle and hopefully build a lot of confidence going into the semifinals. 

[Reporter:]

For yourself, it felt like definitely the best innings for the tournament so far. And after maybe not a bowling performance that you would have liked, how important did you kind of feel that responsibility to contribute with the bat in that way in such an impressive partnership? 

[Ash Gardner:]

Yeah, I guess T20 cricket's a funny one where I guess, thinking about the ball, it's you bowl hard overs and you expect players to take you on. And I guess then to put your batting hat on you want to do that back. And you want to— I guess for me, being an all-rounder, you get the opportunity to do both. And I guess to try and win that momentum back personally. So for me, it was not that I needed to bat well, it was just more so how can I set up my innings to put my team in a winning position. And, being able to spend some time out in the middle ultimately for confidence as well. You know, cricket's a funny game where it's very humbling at times. And I guess when you can try and strive for that confidence and basically to spend as much time out in the middle as you can and put your team in a winning position. That's all I guess our team asked for every player, is just, taking the game on. How we're going to do that, that's going to look different for everyone. But I guess for Pez and I, it was, trying to do that in our own unique way, but then also quite succinctly as well.

[Reporter:]

Just last quick one for me. You've played a lot of T20 cricket now with Pez, both in green and gold and magenta. Is she ever batted as well as she is now? She seems in pretty sublime nick. 

[Ash Gardner:]

Yeah, she's like a red wine. I think that's, she's just someone that's gotten better and better. And I think of just the evolution of her game. She's known that the global game has gone at such a fast pace and, that doesn't settle or slow down for anyone. So she knows that she needs to keep up with that pace. And I guess just to watch the way that she approaches the game, the mental side of things, and just being able to be really brave. I feel like sometimes that can be quite hard at times when you feel like you don't have that confidence, but she's someone that always tries to take the game on. And I think for someone with so much experience and so much willingness to keep evolving, it just shows younger players like me that, there is no real ceiling on that stuff. And yeah, she's a fantastic leader within our group, within that space, but then just generally as well. 

[Reporter:]

Ash, how important was it for the side to have a match that, really pushed you and to come out on the top side of that, heading into the knockouts? 

[Ash Gardner:]

Yeah, we certainly knew that we were going to get challenged today. I feel like every battle we have with India, it certainly goes down to the wire, and today was no exception. And we know the class team that they are, so we knew that we had to expect that, and it was just who dealt with it better. I guess there's been a lot of talk throughout this whole tournament, we've done a lot of work off the field as a whole unit, and there's been a lot of buy-in to, I guess, the pressure side of things. We know that every single team is going to face pressure. It's just who can handle it the best. And for us, we know that we've got so many match winners within our side. We've got so much depth, and there's so much belief within our team that, when we're playing our best cricket, we can win every game. So for us, it's just being able to believe that even when things get hard. It's just being able to revert back to that, which is really cool.

[Reporter:]

And then just a word on West Indies, your next opponents. They've probably had a tougher campaign to reach this point, but what do you make of them as competition?

[Ash Gardner:]

Yeah, they're a completely different threat. You know, they've got a lot of class and a lot of firepower within their team. Also a lot of experience, obviously led brilliantly by Hayley Matthews, who's a player that can take away a game pretty quickly. But then you look at someone like Deandra Dottin, she's a threat in all three phases of the game. She's a fantastic player. I've had the privilege of playing with her, and I guess just seeing how she goes about her cricket, she's so fearless in the way that she approaches it, which sometimes can be quite scary because she can flick a switch pretty quickly. But then just to see the, I guess, inexperience as well that they've got and that rawness that they've got within their side. So yeah, they definitely pose a different threat. But luckily enough, we've played a series against them quite recently. So I guess we can do our homework in terms of how we're going to approach a new venue, a fast venue, one that's really nice to bat on. So for us, it's being able to do our homework really quickly because we've got a day to do it. And then a really quick turnaround and then just get really excited for what the occasion is.

[Reporter:]

The takedown of left-arm spinners in Radha Yadav and Sri Charini was particularly spectacular, led by you and of course Ellyse Perry. Talk us through that, any particular approach you had, especially knowing the kind of tournament Sri Charani had had and left-arm spinners in general are the toast of the season, especially in this tournament, right? 

[Ash Gardner:]

Yeah, I think it's being able to respect every bowler for, I guess, what they've done. And, watching Sri throughout this whole campaign, she's been amazing. And I guess for us as batters, it's being able to put them off what they've done. And I guess the great thing that we have within our lineup is we have people that can hit all around the ground. And, as a right-hander, being able to access the offside to the ball turning away is obviously really helpful. So being able to do that, whether it's using the depth decrease or actually going at the bowler.

So I think for us it's being able to disrupt, because I feel like when Charani's bowled really well, she's settled in on a length and she's kind of dictated terms. So for us, it's being able to flip that. We want to dictate as batters. And, she's a young player as well, so there's a little bit of inexperience there. So, hopefully as an experienced player you can try and get on top of her and then put her under pressure and then potentially she's going to throw things at you that she hasn't done before. So I think we saw that a little bit today. She turned to some different plans and it's being able to put her under pressure for, a period of time which she probably hasn't had throughout the tournament.