By Prakash Singh

Copyright news

The Australians will travel to Sri Lanka with early tournament momentum after Gardner’s century proved match winning despite Kiwis captain Sophie Devine also reaching triple figures in a chase which fell 89-runs short.

Beyond Gardner’s 115 batting at number six, which included 15 fours and a six as she rescued Australia from 5-128 and enabled the reigning champs to post 326, with number 10 Kim Garth also belting a late 37, there were positives everywhere.

Sophie Molineux, picked in the squad despite an a 11-month injury lay-off, snared 3-25 helping to dismiss New Zealand for just 237 in an ominous spin bowling display before the Australians head to Sri Lanka for their next game.

The Australians preached bravery and aggression with the bat, and got it from Gardner who didn’t hold back despite the nervous state of the innings when she arrived.

“I kind of love coming in those pressure situations,” Gardner said after the game.

“If I look at our lineup, we have so much confidence and clarity of what everyone’s role is. For me, batting in the middle order, sometimes I’ll go in when we’re 250 and I get to tee off.

“But then sometimes what happened today … there’s probably both ends of the spectrum. And for me, it’s about consuming if I need to.

“I was so clear in, I guess, where I wanted to score, and I was just really proactive with, I guess, taking positive options, because if I go into my shell, that’s probably when I won’t bat the best.

“So, for me, it’s sticking to my strengths. Yes, the scoreboard was saying something, but I was trying to take that out of it.

“We bat, genuinely, all the way down, so we have that freedom to play and that confidence within our group that even if we are five-down-for-not-too-many, we have the players to come in and change the game.”

Australian captain Alyssa Healy, who made 19 in a 40-run opening stand with Phoebe Litchfield, was full of praise for the poise Gardner showed to get the Aussies a total they could defend.

“She’s just continuing to mature as a cricketer, and it’s really impressive to watch,” she said

“And the fact that the middle order can get runs when we’re in strife is a huge. As well as the lower order making runs for us. Awesome that Sophie can also bowl for us in the powerplay.

“Annabel (Sutherland) also finally found her length out there and got rewarded for it.“

The Australians have to whiz to Colombo for their next game on Saturday which will take some adjusting Gardner said they are prepared for.

“I think what this team does really well is adapt. We obviously play in a lot of different places around the world, and you need to adapt really quickly.

“We fly to Colombo tomorrow, and then we have one practice session to, I guess, get the gist of what’s going to happen out there in the middle and try and adapt really quickly.

“We’ve got some really smart cricketers within our side, and whether that’s with bat or ball, making sure that we can adapt to the different challenges that are thrown at us. “And I think that’s something that we can really pride ourselves on, is making sure they’ve done all the hard work before we get out there.”