“I just love the contest and love being able to be the one to put a good contribution out there”
Ashish Pant07-Mar-20250:53
Mooney: ‘Nice to see change in perspective of where the women’s game is at’
Player of the Match in the 2023 T20 World Cup final. Player of the Tournament at the 2020 T20 World Cup. An average of 110 at the 2022 ODI World Cup. Player of the Match in back-to-back WBBL finals, in 2018-19 and in 2019-20. The list can go on.There’s something about big games that brings out the best in Beth Mooney. The Australia teams she has been part of have given her ample opportunity to showcase her big-stage temperament. That they crossed the final hurdle was often down to Mooney stepping up when it mattered.What is it about Mooney and her going big in crunch games?Related
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“I really like winning,” Mooney told ESPNcricinfo. “I think winning is always nice in a team sport, and being able to contribute, but I’m quite competitive and gutsy as well. It doesn’t always look pretty when I’m out there, but when I’m in the contest, I don’t want to let the team down. I make sure I do everything I can to get the team over the line and contribute where I can.”Maybe it’s happened by chance, maybe it hasn’t. It’s hard to really put a finger on it, but it’s probably just worked out that way because the Australian team has played in a lot of finals, and I’ve had a lot of opportunities to bat high up the order in ODI cricket and T20 cricket. I just love the contest and love being able to be the one to put a good contribution out there.”Mooney has flown under the radar in the Australia teams that have been studded with superstars, such as Alyssa Healy, Ellyse Perry and Meg Lanning. But she has been a beacon of consistency, especially in T20Is. Since the start of 2020, only Smriti Mandhana has more runs than Mooney’s 2230 runs in 65 T20I innings, and she’s played 13 fewer innings. She has the highest average (46.45) among batters in the top 50 on this list and also the most fifties (22) in this period.Mooney is also the highest run-scorer in WBBL history with 5051 runs in 141 innings and is only second to Lanning for most T20I runs for Australia. For someone who does not have an intimidating presence like Grace Harris or Healy, Mooney’s understanding of the T20 game and knowing when exactly to increase the pace stands out.With Alyssa Healy injured, Beth Mooney has been keeping wicket for Australia•Getty Images”In T20, you are looking to take the game on as much as possible. And you know your limits within yourself. Who your best match-up is against what team. I just feel like if you can get yourself going against a certain bowler, then that opens the game right up for you against the other bowlers,” Mooney said. “Sometimes you’re going to – well, that’s not true, you’re going to get out every game – the method is that as long as I’m getting out in a way that is the style of play that I want to go about, then I’m okay with it.”If I’m getting out, just sort of throwing my wicket away a bit, then that’s when I get a little bit disappointed with myself and know I can be better. But I certainly think accepting your fate in T20 cricket goes a long way to making sure that you’re playing your natural game and really trying to get your team into winning positions.”Currently in India playing the WPL, Mooney wants to inculcate that winning mentality and run-scoring appetite in the Gujarat Giants set-up, a team she has been with since the first season. It hasn’t worked out great for Giants yet: they finished at the bottom of the five-team table both in 2023 and 2024. They are doing much better this time and are currently placed third. Mooney reckons that winning or losing, especially in T20 cricket, creates a habit, and Giants haven’t been able to do that.
“I’m 31 years old now. I’ve got no desire to captain teams. I like being a leader, I like being a quiet leader. Someone who can change and have an impact on the group pretty quietly and do my job”
“It’s not really a secret that we haven’t won too many games at Gujarat,” Mooney said. “That’s not through any fault of our own in terms of effort or attitude. I think the attitude of the group has been excellent. The coaching staff are doing the best they can to provide us with lots of opportunities to train and learn about the game.”Sometimes I think T20 cricket can be a little bit about luck, and it can be a little bit about timing. Winning and losing become a bit of a habit, and unfortunately for us, we have probably just lost some pretty close games. I think if we had won, we probably would have got on a nice roll and learnt how to win those games. But certainly, I think we have got a group that I do think can really challenge for the finals.”Mooney was gutted to have been ruled out of the inaugural edition of the WPL owing to a calf strain after just one game, but she returned in the second season to captain the side. While Ash Gardner has taken over captaincy this season, Mooney is keen on imparting a little bit of wisdom to the Indian players at Giants and also learning from them. The other thing that gets her excited during the WPL is the crowd, especially in Bengaluru.”It’s certainly a different experience going from playing in front of a hundred people that were family and friends to, you know, 30, 50, 60,000 [people],” she said. “The International Women’s Day is coming up and that will mark five years since the T20 World Cup final in Australia where we played in front of 86,000 at the MCG. Never in my lifetime did I think that would happen.
“Winning and losing become a bit of a habit, and unfortunately for us, we have probably just lost some pretty close games”Beth Mooney on Giants’ performance
“It’s happened a lot sooner and probably hasn’t happened as often as we would have liked, especially in Australia. But I certainly think over here in India, we get a lot of decent crowds. We are at the Chinnaswamy Stadium at the moment and the RCB fans are loud as hell. It’s just been really nice to see the change in the perspective of where the women’s game is at, and people wanting to watch and do anything they can to get a ticket.”A wicketkeeper since her age-group days, Mooney has been doing keeping duties for the various franchises across the world but not as much for Australia. But with Healy down with injury, Mooney has become their go-to option behind the stumps. And it’s something she loves doing.”I’ve always been a wicketkeeper by trade since I was ten years old,” Mooney said. “It’s probably just worked out that in the Australian team, obviously Alyssa’s been the main wicketkeeper there and I had to find a way into the team somewhere else. It’s a skill set I’m pretty comfortable with and have done it for a long period of time, but I think I’m equally confident in the field.Beth Mooney: “It’s not really a secret that we haven’t won too many games at Gujarat”•BCCI”I’ve probably got the right balance throughout my career to be able to do it in franchise cricket and domestic cricket back home in Australia and then be able to offer a different option for the Australian selectors by taking a second wicketkeeper on tour. I’ve really enjoyed being able to offer that flexibility to the Australian selectors, and obviously now with Alyssa going down with injury, not too much has to change within their starting XI. They can add in an extra allrounder or an extra batter or bowler rather than having to add in two more players to cover the batting and keeping.”For a player of Mooney’s calibre, and cricketing smarts, it is a bit surprising that she has never captained Australia in any format despite being with the national team for nine years. Even her captaincy stints in franchise cricket have been sporadic. With Healy unsure about her future in international cricket beyond the 2025 ODI World Cup, does Mooney harbour any desire to become Australia captain?”No, absolutely not. I’m 31 years old now. I’ve got no desire to captain teams,” she said. “I like being a leader, I like being a quiet leader. Someone who can change and have an impact on the group pretty quietly and do my job. I’ve always said yes to people when they have needed someone to do it, and the right people have asked me to do it, if it’s going to have a positive impact on the group. But no, I certainly don’t harbour any desire to be a captain.”
