Ashleigh Gardner's injury scare forces Australia women to ban 'Vortex'

Australia Women's National Cricket Team player Ashleigh Gardner confirmed that they had banned the pre-game activity with Vortex ball. She said that they wouldn't be undergoing the drill with Vortex ball for the entire tour, where they are locking horns with the New Zealand Women's National Cricket Team.

This comes after Ashleigh Gardner faced a head injury ahead of the first T20I against the New Zealand Women's National Cricket Team. The all-rounder collided with teammate Georgia Wareham as she attempted to catch a soft 'Vortex' ball in a warm-up drill for the training session.

At first, it didn't seem serious for Ashleigh Gardner as the all-rounder was seen laughing, but after that, she left the ground with tears in her eyes. There was even a possibility of concussion, but thankfully, it wasn't the case. Had it happened, this would've been an eighth career concussion.

Ashleigh Gardner's injury although wasn't that serious, she was deemed unfit to play in the first T20I against the New Zealand Women's National Cricket Team. But thankfully for her, she returned to the action for the second game and came up with the match-winning effort.

Gardner, who saw a neuropsychologist in 2018 after suffering four concussions in the space of 20 months, played a vital role for her team in the second T20I. The all-rounder picked three wickets and gave away only 16 runs, helping the Australia Women's National Cricket Team register a 29-run win over the opposition.

Ashleigh Gardner, while talking about the Vortex incident, said that it was weird for her to have faced that kind of injury. But she admitted that she is feeling good now, and they won't be doing the Vortex drill for the rest of the tour. Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, she explained:

"It's been nice to get back out there after a weird occasion, a head collision in a warm-up. It was weird to wrap my head around, but I've felt really good the last couple of days. I've had a lot of head knocks in the past; I know when I am concussed and when I'm not. There was no sign of the Vortex before Sunday's game. That's the end of the Vortex for the rest of the tour."

There's still a lot left in the tank - Ashleigh Gardner

Ashleigh Gardner stressed that Australia needs to improve a lot before going into the T20 World Cup 2024. She mentioned that conditions in UAE will be unknown for them but they have good confidence in the team. While talking about the performance in the first two T20Is, she explained:

"There's still a lot left in the tank; hopefully, in this last game, if we do bat first, we can put a massive total on the board. Sutherland at eight is pretty ridiculous. Going into conditions like Dubai, we haven't played there before [for Australia] so we're kind of going into the unknown a little bit.

"But knowing we have a defendable total like 140, we know our bowling unit is good enough to restrict them. The skill we possess, in all facets ... it was pretty clinical," she concluded.