{"id":941301,"date":"2026-10-26T07:46:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T07:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/941301\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T07:46:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T07:46:18","slug":"cricket-news-2026-ash-gardner-opens-up-on-cheating-allegations-ahead-of-sydney-sixers-first-wbbl-game-of-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/941301\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket news 2026: Ash Gardner opens up on cheating allegations ahead of Sydney Sixers\u2019 first WBBL game of season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Superstar Australian<\/a> all-rounder Ash Gardner has spoken publicly about the cheating allegations<\/a> that rocked her private life, admitting having cricket to fall back on has helped her throughout the rocky period.<\/p>\n

Gardner\u2019s estranged wife, Monica Wright, alleged in an Instagram post in July that Australia\u2019s vice-captain had an affair with teammate Georgia Voll.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ash Gardner speaking to media on Monday.\u00a0Dominic Lorrimer<\/p>\n

Gardner and Voll are now in a relationship.<\/p>\n

Gardner, the captain of the Sydney Sixers<\/a>, spoke publicly about the saga in North Sydney on Monday, ahead of her WBBL<\/a> side\u2019s season-opening game against the Brisbane Heat on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cCricket\u2019s been a really fantastic escape \u2026 It\u2019s been a bit of a shining light,\u201d the 29-year-old said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obviously been challenging.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it\u2019s my private life, but I guess these things become more of a public matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had some fantastic people around me to be there when I\u2019ve needed them. I think cricket\u2019s been great for that because I know the people around me support me. They know the type of person I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Gardner\u2019s life outside cricket has been bumpy, she\u2019s enjoyed a dreamy few months on the field.<\/p>\n

Since the start of July, she\u2019s helped Australia win another T20 World Cup<\/a>, captained the Trent Rockets to glory in the UK\u2019s Hundred tournament, and starred in limited-overs games against Bangladesh and New Zealand.<\/p>\n

In a T20 against New Zealand last week, she cracked 84 off 45 balls and took 2-17 to lead Australia to victory and claim player of the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always trying to be the best teammate I can be in whatever team I represent,\u201d Gardner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to captain a couple of sides throughout that period certainly draws me back to focusing on other people as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, there\u2019s stuff going on in my life, but I think being able to show up for my teammates and for the clubs I represent is the most important thing I can do. Hopefully my performances showcase that.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cBeing able to win the World Cup and have success in the Hundred campaign as well (was important).\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Georgia Voll.\u00a0Chris Hyde\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Gardner admitted there were times when the turmoil in her personal life was difficult to block out as she tried to focus on cricket.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were certainly days that it was tough,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat (playing cricket) is my job at the end of the day. Life still happens (and it is about) being able to put my full focus into what whatever was needed from me, and that\u2019s obviously cricket.<\/p>\n

\u201c(It was a matter of) being able to focus on having really good relationships with my teammates as well, because they\u2019re ultimately going to be there to see the good days, to see the bad (ones).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve made some fantastic friends throughout my career and certainly being able to rely on them at times (has helped me).\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the saga, Gardner retained the Australian vice-captaincy and will skipper the Sixers in another WBBL campaign.<\/p>\n

The WBBL season will begin with a double header at Junction Oval in Melbourne on Thursday, with the Melbourne Renegades facing the Sydney Thunder and the Melbourne Stars taking on the Hobart Hurricanes.<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes are the reigning WBBL champions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Superstar Australian all-rounder Ash Gardner has spoken publicly about the cheating allegations that rocked her private life, admitting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":941302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-941301","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\/941301","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=941301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/941302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}