A record second innings haul from Muruwari champion Ash Gardner has lead Australia to victory in the one-off Ashes Test against England overnight.
Gardner took an incredible 8-66 to see Australia bowl England out for 178 early on day five of play, the home side falling 89 runs short.
Her historic performance is the best innings figures by an Australian bowler in women's Tests and second all time to India' Neat David, who took 8-53 against England in 1995.
Having taken four wickets in England's first innings and three crucial second innings wickets the day previous, Gardner was close to unplayable on the deteriorating Trent Bridge surface on the final day's play.
Utilising variable spin and bounce, she took all five England wickets with Australia requiring just 21 overs to bowl the home side out.
Gardner ensured there would be no England fightback on day five, combining with wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy to dismiss nightwatcher Kate Cross (13 from 23) caught behind, and England wicketkeeper-batter Amy Jones (4 from 16) stumped.
She then dismissed her opposing number, England's Sophie Ecclestone (10 from 33) 10 overs later, an after clean bowling Lauren Filer for a duck, Gardner trapped high-scorer Dani Wyatt (54 from 88) leg-before-wicket to seal Australia's victory.
"I wouldn't have dreamt of it, but it just shows having five days in a Test to get a result is super important," Gardner said following the match.
"There was a little bit of luck involved in the conditions.
"But I think as a whole bowling unit we bowled well throughout, tried to bowl in partnerships and I was the lucky one to get the wickets."
After her record breaking performance Australian Captain Alyssa Healy said Gardner, a mainstay in the Australian side across all three formats since her debut in 2017 continues to grow as a leader within the ageing Australian lineup.
"There's a big group of us that are over 30 now, 32 or 33," Healy said.
"And then there's a group in that middle period who've just found their feet in the international game.
"Ash is is one of those key personnel who's still got another 10 years in the game and is confident enough in her ability and her skills to be able to go out there and compete time after time.
"She's going to be a real leader in this group for a long period of time. I hope that today gives her that confidence. I'm sure it will."
Confirming her bowling throughout the Test as one of the all-time great performances, Gardner's match figures of 12-165 are the the second-best by a woman in the history of Test cricket, second only to Pakistan's Shaiza Khan who took 13-226 against the West Indies in 2004.
Australia's victory means they only need to win two of the remaining six white-ball matches in the multi-format series to retain the Ashes.
The series will resume with the first of three T20 Internationals to be played at Edgbaston on Saturday.
