Australia’s Ash Gardner Targets Caribbean Series Sweep Ahead of T20 World Cup

New Delhi: Australia all-rounder Ash Gardner urged her team to finish strongly as she eyes an ODI series sweep over the West Indies on Thursday ahead of this year’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.

The Aussies get the chance to make it a perfect six from six against the Caribbean side in the third and final ODI of the series in St Kitts, with the six-time T20 World Cup champions having already swept the West Indies 3-0 in the earlier T20I series last month.

The fixtures against the West Indies are the final bilateral series Australia will play prior to June’s T20 World Cup, and Gardner does not want to see her teammates rest on their laurels during the last match of the tour.

“Whenever we pull on this jersey we want to win as many games for our country as possible and I guess coming to the closing parts of the season we’re all super excited to I guess finish on a high knowing that we do have a big break before we get into what’s going to be a hectic summer ahead,” Gardner said as per ICC website.

“Our focus is definitely on tomorrow, making sure that we are super clinical in the way that we finish the season and then just making sure that you know we’re celebrating those sort of successes that we’ve had along the season too, looking forward to what’s going to be a huge couple of months.”

The tour of the Caribbean has been a mixed one for Gardner personally, with the all-rounder sitting out two matches of the T20I series due to a hamstring concern, before some excellent efforts with the ball during the opening two 50-over contests.

The contests have also provided Gardner the perfect opportunity to gel alongside new skipper Sophie Molineux in her role as vice-captain, and the 28-year-old said it had been a major positive for both her individually and her Australian teammates.

“It’s been really good, obviously working under Soph for the first time,” Gardner noted.

“It has been a lot of fun she brings a lot of fun to this group and a lot of energy, which is really cool to see. I think if you know Soph, you obviously know the enjoyment that she has off the field, and she certainly brought that into her leadership as well with a lot of care about her teammates,” she added.

“Going forward we want to make sure that we work together as well as possible there’s been a lot of change whether that’s players or staff members and just trying to I guess nut out what we want to do as a leadership group and then have the most influence over the whole playing squad so it’s exciting to see where this group can go,” she concluded.