Ashleigh Katherine Gardner is an Australian cricketer who currently plays for the Australian national team as an all-rounder
- Status: Pending2018, 2020 & 2022
T20 Cricket World Cup winner
- Status: Pending2022
Commonwealth Games Gold Medal
- Status: Pending2021
ODI World Cup winner
- Status: Pending2021 & 2024
Belinda Clark Medal winner
A right-handed batter and right-arm off spinner, Gardner also plays for New South Wales in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL), for the Sydney Sixers in the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) and for the Gujarat Giants in the Women's Premier League (WPL). She has won three world championships and four national titles with her respective teams, while also gaining numerous individual honours, including being awarded the Belinda Clark Award twice.
Beginnings
Ashleigh Gardner was born in Bankstown on 15 April 1997 and attended Picnic Point High School. An Indigenous Australian through her mother's Muruwari heritage, she formed the Ashleigh Gardner Foundation with the goal to "increase the percentage of Aboriginal kids finishing high school". Following standout performances throughout the 2014-15 Imparja Cup, Gardner made her WNCL debut for New South Wales in the 2015-16 season, and joined the Sydney Sixers for the inaugural WBBL season. In the same summer, she played one T20 and one 50-over game in New Zealand for Northern Districts (not to be confused with one of her local NSW Premier Cricket teams, Northern District Cricket Club).
Achievements
Ashleigh is a T20 Cricket World Cup winner 2018, 2020 and in 2022, player of the final and player of the tournament, 2018, 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medal, Women's T20 Cricket 2022, ODI World Cup winner 2021 and Belinda Clark Medal winner 2021 and 2024. Ashleigh was also a fantastic junior cricketer, winning the Mollie Dive player of the year twice, four consecutive premierships for RWCC and four premierships for Bankstown Sports Women's first grade. She also represented NSW in primary school, under 15s and under 18s. In the under 18s she was 2014 player of the tournament.
Post Representation
During the global pandemic in 2020, Gardner developed an "isolation hobby" trying her hand at dot painting. She is still currently playing Cricket for the Gujarat Giants who are an Indian women's cricket team that compete in the Women's Premier League (WPL), based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.