After capping a memorable campaign with both the Player of the Match and Player of the Tournament awards, Beth Mooney credited Australia’s fearless batting in the powerplay for laying the foundation for their seven-wicket victory over England in Sunday’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup final.
Mooney, who finished as the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 259 runs, played the anchor’s role with a composed 64 off 49 balls, striking 10 boundaries as Australia comfortably chased down England’s target of 151 with 17 balls to spare at Lord’s to clinch a record-extending seventh Women’s T20 World Cup title.
Looking back on the triumph, Mooney said the team entered the tournament determined to make amends after falling short in the previous two ICC events and was simply grateful to have reached another World Cup final.
“Just happy to be here. I think it’s been pretty well documented we haven’t quite made it this far in the last two ICC events. I just woke up this morning pretty grateful we made it this far,” she said.
Apart from starring with the bat, Mooney also impressed behind the stumps, including producing a sharp stumping to dismiss England opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge. She credited Australia’s coaching staff for helping her settle into the wicketkeeping role as the tournament progressed.
“I warmed up into the tournament. At the start I was a bit rusty, but I got some great support from our coaching staff with Dan Kiley, Shell, the boys and Sean McLeod. I’ve had plenty of help along the way. I can’t take too much credit. It’s been really nice to have some consistency with the gloves and to play a role in the field as well,” she said.
Mooney also explained that her decision to stand up to the stumps was based on discussions with the bowlers and their plans.
“It’s obviously a conversation that happens between me and the bowlers. I’m more than happy to do what they tell me to. It’s their plans and their job to execute, and thankfully they back me to clean up anything that goes a bit awry. We were umming and ahing about that review off Dan, but we got there in the end,” she added.
Australia’s chase was built around an aggressive approach from the outset, with Georgia Voll providing a brisk start before Phoebe Litchfield’s fluent 48 off 33 balls ensured England never regained control. Mooney said the intent shown during the powerplay proved decisive.
“It was really important to settle the innings in the powerplay in a big game. Voll got us off to a really good start, hit the ball really well and then had an unfortunate dismissal. Phoebe came out and nailed it from ball one. I just kept going and tried to make sure we got ahead of the game as early as possible,” she said.
Earlier, England posted 150/4 after captain Nat Sciver-Brunt remained unbeaten on 58 and Freya Kemp contributed an unbeaten 44, but Australia’s clinical chase sealed another world title.