Gardner\u2019s ex-wife, Monica Wright, earlier this month publicly alleged on social media that the Australian all-rounder and teammate Georgia Voll were involved in an affair during last year\u2019s Women\u2019s World Cup in India.<\/p>\n
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Despite the allegations, Sixers general manager Rachael Haynes made it clear the club has no concerns over Gardner\u2019s leadership and expects her to continue as captain after taking over from Ellyse Perry last season.<\/p>\n
The Sydney Sixers have broken their silence on Ash Gardner’s future, confirming the Australian star will remain captain despite recent allegations surrounding her personal life.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to comment on her personal life, or anything like that,\u201d Haynes said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut certainly we\u2019ve exchanged messages.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve checked in with her; she knows that we\u2019re here to support her.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s a well-respected player within our program, an important player for us, so I think the most important thing is knowing that we\u2019re there for her, we care about her and look forward to continuing with the club ongoing.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely (as captain). Each year we make a recommendation to our board around our leaders. She certainly did a fantastic job last year, and we\u2019ll be making that recommendation to our board that she continues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ashleigh Gardner (left) and Monica Wright. Picture: InstagramSource: Instagram<\/p>\n
Gardner and Wright married in 2025 before separating just months later. Wright has alleged the affair took place during the 2025 Women\u2019s World Cup in India.<\/p>\n
Away from the captaincy decision, Haynes also confirmed Peter Clarke will take over as Sydney Sixers WBBL coach following Matthew Mott\u2019s move to lead the club\u2019s BBL side.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think to have someone like Matthew Mott stepping into our men\u2019s head coach role, Pete Clarke who was announced earlier today, very excited with where we\u2019ve ended up,\u201d Haynes said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a little bit of a journey to get here, but I think we\u2019ve got two world-class coaches stepping in to lead our programs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clarke is no stranger to the Sixers, having served as an assistant coach under Mott during WBBL 11 while also spending eight years as psychologist with the Australian women\u2019s team.<\/p>\n
James Hopes had originally been appointed to coach the Sixers\u2019 BBL side before leaving to coach Queensland and the Brisbane Heat, prompting the club to elevate Mott to the men\u2019s program and create an opportunity for Clarke.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the potential for the BBL and WBBL windows to shift each season, we have appointed separate head coaches for each team to ensure continuity and long-term stability across both programs,\u201d Haynes said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we considered Matthew\u2019s ability to lead both programs, we\u2019ve taken a long-term view to ensure consistent and stable leadership across both teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attention has also turned to replacing retired wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy as the Sixers prepare for a season they expect will be played without a draft.<\/p>\n
Ash Gardner with Alyssa Healy at the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup last year.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve certainly been chatting to various players, but once we have certainty around the contracting framework and what we can and can\u2019t commit to, then we\u2019ll move pretty quickly on that,\u201d Haynes said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the timelines, it feels like there\u2019s not going to be a draft this year; that\u2019s the assumption we\u2019re working off.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was chatting to Alyssa yesterday, and she\u2019s still completely engaged in the club.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a priority to make sure we\u2019ve got gloves behind the stumps… so we\u2019ve been chatting to a couple of players, and it\u2019ll be high on our list when that embargo lifts.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Sixers lost just one match during last season\u2019s home-and-away campaign before falling to Queensland by seven runs in a rain-affected WBBL final, with Haynes confident the club will again contend for the title.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have every confidence that Pete and Matthew are the right leaders for our respective programs, and that they will give us every opportunity to contend for a third WBBL and fourth BBL championship.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sydney Sixers have thrown their full support behind captain Ash Gardner, confirming she will remain skipper for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":818094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-818093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}