Gardner sees playing in The Hundred as key to pick cues for ODI WC prep

New Delhi, Aug 20 (IANS) Australia’s off-spin bowling all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner believes playing in this year’s The Hundred is offering a key opportunity to pick up cues on players from other teams ahead of the Women’s ODI World Cup, set to happen from September 30 to November 2 in India and Sri Lanka.

"From an opposition point of view, it's probably trying to pick up things off your team-mates or people that you're playing against, little cues that you can take back to your homeland and plan accordingly.

"There's no denying that and there's probably other countries around the world, if you're playing with another international, try and get some things from them or talk to them about, not necessarily their game plan, but just having those off-the-cuff conversations and trying to wrap your head around that because that's so important.

"We play a lot of cricket with these people and against them, so it's, how can I try and get the upper hand where I can? Sometimes that's going to be harder to do, but just looking at the game holistically," said Ashleigh on ESPNcricinfo's Powerplay podcast.

Australia will play a three-match ODI series in India immediately before the World Cup happens, and Ashleigh stated Australia will prepare for the ‘rude shock’ of returning to 50-over cricket after playing in The Hundred.

"We're going to be spending double the time on our feet, so I know for us Aussie players, we play a game of cricket, but then the next day or that day we need to then run again, we need to gym.

"It might be mentally taxing at the time, knowing that you have to play a game of cricket, which you're obviously trying to win and be successful in, but also having one eye on the World Cup and making sure that our bodies are getting in the right spot.

"It's making sure that training days are really big and you're getting a lot out of that and then you're doing your cricket skills, of course. Then game days, you're trying to tick those off as well, so they do become quite big days. I love playing franchise cricket, but playing for Australia is always going to be that No. 1 option for me, so making sure that I've got my focus on that as well," she added.

--IANS

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