Australia wicketkeeper-batter Beth Mooney believes the team’s strength lies in its all-round depth, crediting consistent contributions from across the squad for powering the six-time champions into a record eighth ICC Women’s T20 World Cup final.
After Australia’s commanding eight-wicket win over the West Indies in the semifinal at The Oval, Mooney praised the impact of Ashleigh Gardner, Georgia Wareham and Georgia Voll, saying Australia’s ability to produce match-winners in every department has been key to their campaign. The defending champions will now face either England or South Africa in Sunday’s final at Lord’s.
Mooney reserved special praise for Gardner, who followed up her match-winning knock against India with another influential all-round display against the West Indies.
“She’s been a critical player for us for a long period of time. She obviously batted beautifully against India at Lord’s the other day. She gets a lot of confidence from that. And I think we saw that today with the ball. She bowled beautifully and took wickets at critical times. So we know the threat that she poses to other teams, and we’re very lucky to have her at our disposal in our team,” Mooney said after the match.
With Australia now one win away from another world title, Mooney stressed the importance of having every player in form.
“Certainly going into the pointy end of the competition, it’s always good to have all your players in good form,” she said.
Mooney also praised Georgia Wareham, saying the all-rounder has developed into one of Australia’s most valuable players after adapting to different roles over the years.
“Wolf (Wareham) has been unreal. Not too many cricketers float around the world stage having the skill set that she does and the nous of the game … the calmness. So it’s probably been a little bit of time in the making for Wolf. I think she’s been given different roles along the way but really come into her own in that number six role with the bat especially, and also just nailing it with the ball,” she added.
Mooney described Wareham as a complete cricketer. “She’s the all-round package—Wolf—bat, ball, field, great temperament, great human. So another player that is probably the envy of world cricket, and she’s in our team. So I’m very lucky that I get to have the best seat in the house, both behind the stumps when I’m keeping and obviously seeing her do her thing with the bat. So hopefully she’s got one more very good game in her and can help us get on the right side of the result on Sunday,” she said.
Mooney also credited opener Georgia Voll for Australia’s aggressive starts in the powerplay.
“Yeah, we’ve discussed that that’s a pretty important phase of the game to try and attack, and obviously with Georgia Voll at the top of the order, it makes it pretty easy to do that,” she said.
Explaining Australia’s batting approach, Mooney added: “From a personal point of view, I’ve certainly got the control and the skills to be able to take the game on a little bit earlier and played a lot of cricket and have a lot of data behind me to back up the fact that I can make good decisions and know what I’m doing every now and then. It’s not going to come off all the time, but I think that’s the way forward in T20 cricket is to really attack the power play if you can and adjust where you need to along the way.”
She also compared batting with Voll to her long partnership with Alyssa Healy.
“Batting with Alyssa Healy for a long time and now batting with Georgia Voll, it does make it easier to get ahead of the rate, whether you’re chasing a lower total or a big one.”
Australia chased down West Indies’ 125/7 with seven overs to spare despite Ellyse Perry retiring hurt as a precaution, and will now head into Sunday’s final aiming to win a record-extending seventh ICC Women’s T20 World Cup title.