23 February - Cape Town - Australia player Ashleigh Gardner post-match press conference

[Reporter]

Ash, where does that rank amongst wins you've been involved in?

[Ashleigh Gardner]

Pretty highly, to be honest. I think at the turnover mark in India's batting innings, everyone had probably written us off, but I think that just shows our character within our side and that's why the best teams win in those types of positions. I know that's what we speak about is when our backs are up against the wall, we always try and find a way and today we probably had no right to win at one point there. They were cruising and then we found a way to get some wickets and ultimately came out on top.

[Reporter]

It wasn't dissimilar to the Commonwealth Games gold medal match. How much confidence do you all have in a group in that sort of situation?

[Ashleigh Gardner]

Yeah, huge. There's probably areas throughout this World Cup that we certainly want to improve on and I think we've been building for this match today. I think we batted really well and we took a lot of confidence and momentum from our batting innings into our bowling innings. We obviously didn't hit the areas that we would have liked, but like I mentioned, we found a way to scrap and we got wickets at really crucial times.

[Reporter]

Can you talk us through that last over?

[Ashleigh Gardner]

Well, firstly, my heart rate was probably about 180 minimum. I think I was just trying to keep it really simple and to look back at the Big Bash with the power surge, bowling with two out, I've taken a lot of confidence out of probably more death bowling, you could say, and I probably wouldn't have said that I was a death bowler back in the day, but I guess now my game has evolved in a way where I'm probably a lot more confident in those types of roles. But in saying that, Jess Jonassen left me with plenty of runs in that final over, so all the credit kind of goes to her for actually giving me something to bowl to. And yeah, I was obviously thankful that I could hit my lengths and I kind of got away with quite a few balls that maybe I wasn't overly happy with, but being able to be really clear in the plan that I was trying to bowl to and ultimately came out on top, which is pleasing.

[Reporter]

Would it be fair to say that Australia won it by virtue of better fielding?

[Ashleigh Gardner]

I think so. I think we showed our class today in the field and we always speak about as a group being the best fielding team in the world, and I think today really showed that Elyse Perry was elite on the boundary. She probably saved six runs herself. So, to think whether it's drop catchers, missed opportunities in the field, those ultimately add up to quite a lot of runs. And I think we took those moments and those pivotal moments when we really needed to. And yeah, I certainly think Pez was probably the blueprint for our side going forward, certainly on the boundary, but I think, yeah, at the end of the day, that could have been something that I guess was the difference between us and them.

[Reporter]

You mentioned Perry's stop and the death bowling by yourself and Jess, and also, I guess your little turn with the bat there as well, are they the sort of little things that you guys concentrate on and pride yourselves on that all add up to being able to withstand pressure like that?

[Ashleigh Gardner]

Yeah, definitely. I think as a team, we know our roles really clearly, and that goes to the staff in being really clear on what they want from us, and it's also our teammates backing that as well. We're all really comfortable and confident in our own abilities, but also having the backing of your teammates, I think is quite significant. We always celebrate each other's success, and I think that showed today. And like I mentioned, we scrapped, we fought really hard right to the end, and I think ultimately that was probably the difference between the two sides.

[Reporter]

You always knew that India versus Australia is kind of a potential high octane closely fought contest. And as you said that you did not, you thought you did not deserve to win. What would you make of a performance like Harmanpreet Kaur’s 50? And I'm not sure if you're aware of the fact that she was not keeping well. She had fever until a few hours ago. What would you make of that particular knock from Harmanpreet given she has had a history of playing good innings against Australia with the Commonwealth Games final or the 2017 ODI World Cup semi-final?

[Ashleigh Gardner]

Yeah, we always know that she's one of their biggest threats in their batting line-up, and I think they bat all the way down to eight pretty comfortably. So knowing that Harmanpreet coming in at four or five, she showed her class today, but I guess we always knew that we weren't that far away from taking their wickets and obviously the way that she got out was probably something that she would look back on and be pretty frustrated with. But I think it just shows as a team that we never give up and we knew that we were so close to still being in that game and something like that was a massive momentum switcher for us. And they're the types of moments that you really need to jump on. And thankfully for us, we got her out in the way that we did. Yeah, I think that was probably one of the turning points in the game.

[Reporter]

Just your thoughts. It's day games now going into the final games. Batting first or second, just your thoughts on that or you continue to be happy to defend?

[Ashleigh Gardner]

Well, it was a pretty good wicket. They obviously almost chased that down and we thought at the halfway point 170 was a pretty defendable total, which I think it is. Like I mentioned, probably just didn't bowl the areas that we would have liked early and kind of gave them the sniff early. But I think if you can score 170 on that wicket again, obviously we always aim high. We always want to score as many runs as possible, like every team does. But if we can score 170 - 180, I think that's definitely defendable, especially in a World Cup final. It's obviously high pressure, but yeah, I think that just showed today that 170 was a pretty good total. And if you bowl well enough, you can certainly defend that.

[Reporter]

Can you just talk about playing in South Africa, the experience it's been like? It's obviously not the 86,000 of the MCG three years ago, but what it's been like, the crowd?

[Ashleigh Gardner]

The crowd's been great. I think you just have to look at the game that we versus South Africa. That crowd was fantastic and the anthems were really cool. To have the whole crowd singing the South African anthem was kind of chilling at the start of the game, but it's awesome to see people coming out here and just supporting the game of cricket, supporting female athletes. There's a few Aussie supporters here today, which is really nice to see. There wasn't many of them, but their voices were certainly heard. But it's just really pleasing to see that people are coming out, whether it's a three o'clock game or not. But hopefully, fingers crossed on Sunday, we have a full crowd here at Newlands.

[Reporter]

Would you agree that the gap between Australia and the other team, especially with India just breathing down your neck, the gap is slowly coming to an end? Do you think this is the beginning of that?

[Ashleigh Gardner]

Yeah, we're all very well aware of that. And I think you just have to look at things that are coming in place now, like the hundred WBBL, the WPL. I think that's going to grow the game globally. And that's ultimately what we want to do as cricketers is do that. I think Australia has been the marker for such a long time now and teams are getting closer and we're all aware of that. But I guess it just shows to us that we need to keep getting better as well to keep pushing that boat out even further. So, yeah, that's certainly an awareness that's there. And you just have to look at how this World Cup has gone and teams that are beating other teams, someone like Sri Lanka beating South Africa straight away. That was quite an eye-opening thing for a World Cup. And it's great to see that teams are getting better and they're being better resourced. There's still certainly a long way to go for other nations to kind of catch up to Australia, India, England, nations like that. But it is pleasing to see that some of the cricket that's being played in this World Cup is, yeah, pleasing to see for the global game.

[Reporter]

Just curious what you said earlier about trying to be the best fielding side in the world. There's a lot of teams at this tournament that probably have that goal. This is a tournament that probably has been characterized by poor fielding at times and other nations. What are you actually doing physically to make yourselves better than everyone else? Because everyone at this tournament works on their fielding. So, what separates you guys?

[Ashleigh Gardner]

Well, first of all, we have KPIs and there's markers that show us whether we're positive or negative in the field. So that's one thing that after a game, if we know that we've fielded badly, we could be minus 10. But if we've fielded really well, we're plus six and we do it for both sides. So, there's a pretty clear indication how we're fielded, obviously it is subjective. But I think we just know how to push each other. In our training sessions, there are always really high-pressured situations. And I think us as athletes, we're all really, we all push each other, whether it's on the field or off the field, whether it's in the gym, it's running. I think our athletic ability is also one of the things that we're probably at the higher end of nations around the world. And that's something that we really pride ourselves on is being fit, being strong. And ultimately that's one of the things that has an impact in the field.

[Reporter]

You guys are pretty good at winning and you've been doing it for a long time now. And I just wonder what is it, I'm sure winning doesn't get boring, but what is it that keeps the desire alive? Is it you can see the chasing pack, is it your own professionalism? What makes you want to keep winning?

[Ashleigh Gardner]

I hate losing. I think everyone hates losing. So, I feel like that's probably one of the things that people always think about. But it's just being able to, I guess, as a team, we always say that we want to keep evolving. And ultimately if we're evolving as athletes and as individuals, we are going to get better. And as a side, we always celebrate each other's success. And that's one thing that we've done so well over the past few years is we've got better as individuals, which ultimately then has an effect as a team. It's pleasing to see people work extremely hard at their game, whether it's on or off the field. So yeah, losing sucks and that's certainly something that we don't want to do. And obviously coming to a World Cup, you want to be World Cup champions. So, we want to be champions of the world. We want to win everything. I think every team wants to do that, but we certainly don't want to leave here without a medal.