Gardner made her county debut in 2011, for Northamptonshire against Derbyshire. She scored 2 runs and bowled 7 overs without taking a wicket.[4] 2013 was a breakthrough year for Gardner, as she took 15 Championship wickets at an average of 14.26, as well as taking her maiden five-for, with 6/21 against Oxfordshire.[5][6] In 2014, she was the leading wicket-taker across the whole Championship, taking 19 wickets at an average of 9.47.[7] She took 5/23 against both Scotland and Hampshire.[8][9] She hit her maiden county half-century in 2015, against Leicestershire, and went on to hit three more in 2016, and was the leading run-scorer for her side in both competitions.[10][11][12]
In 2017, Gardner joined Warwickshire.[3] She hit 54* in her first match for her new side, in a 2 wicket victory over Kent.[13] Gardner was part of the Warwickshire team that won the 2019 Women's Twenty20 Cup.[14]
In 2020, Gardner played for Sunrisers in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy. She appeared in all 6 matches, and was her side's leading run-scorer and joint leading wicket-taker, with 193 runs and 7 wickets. She scored one half-century, 54, in a losing cause against Western Storm.[19][20][21] In December 2020, it was announced that Gardner was one of the 41 female cricketers that had signed a full-time domestic contract.[22] Gardner played 11 matches for the side in 2021, across the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and the Charlotte Edwards Cup, taking two wickets and with a top score of 42, made off 30 balls against Northern Diamonds.[23][24][25] She also played nine matches in Oval Invincibles' victorious campaign in The Hundred.[26] Ahead of the 2022 season, Gardner remodelled her bowling action, becoming an off break bowler, having previously bowled medium pace.[27] She played eleven matches for Sunrisers in 2022, across the Charlotte Edwards Cup and the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, scoring 193 runs and taking eleven wickets.[28][29] She moved to Southern Brave in The Hundred, but did not a play a match for her new side.[30]
