Beth Mooney would relish the opportunity to finish her international career as Australia’s wicketkeeper across formats, but acknowledges she’s no certainty to serve as Alyssa Healy’s eventual successor with the gloves.
Fresh off a Women’s Premier League campaign with the Gujarat Giants, Mooney has touched down in New Zealand in preparation for Australia’s three-match T20 series against the White Ferns, which kicks off in Auckland on Friday.
The Queenslander will don the gloves in the absence of captain Healy, who is recovering from a stress injury in her right foot sustained during the recent Ashes campaign. Mooney served as wicketkeeper for the pink-ball Ashes Test at the MCG with Healy playing as a specialist batter, marking the first time she had donned the gloves in a multi-day match.
Watch NZ vs Pakistan T20I & ODI Series LIVE on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer >
“(Keeping) hadn’t really been on my radar before in Test cricket,” Mooney told Fox Cricket.
“I actually surprised myself with how much I enjoyed it, to be honest. I was a little bit daunted by the prospect of having to do that, not having done it a lot before, but I was pleasantly surprised with the enjoyment I got out of it and the challenge that it presented.”
Healy, who turns 35 this week, has remained coy about her international future beyond next summer’s multi-format series against India, with Mooney the leading candidate to take over the glovework following her retirement.
“From the team balance point of view, it’s the right thing to do, to be able to give the selectors and (Australian coach Shelley Nitschke) the option to use me as the wicketkeeper,” Mooney continued.
“But I’m also under no illusion to the fact there are some very good wicketkeepers in our domestic ranks at the moment.
“If someone else popped up and they thought they were a better option, that would be ok too, but it certainly would be a really good way to finish my career, being able to keep in all three formats and challenge myself that way.
“But that decision may not be left to me.”
Australia has already started preparing for life post-Healy by including Victoria’s Nicole Faltum in the T20 tour of New Zealand. The uncapped wicketkeeper led the Melbourne Renegades to a maiden WBBL title this summer, also producing some impressive performances at WNCL and Australia A level.
“She just looks like she’s improved out of sight in the last 12 months, and that’s given her a lot of confidence in what she’s doing, whether it’s behind the stumps or with the bat,” Mooney said of Faltum.
“She’s played domestic cricket for a long time, and it looks like she’s unlocked her game in the way she wants to play and what she’s about.
“It’s always hard to do when you’ve been playing for a little while and not seeing the results you want, so just the patience to stick with it and work it out has been really pleasing to see.
“This is a pretty short tour, three T20s at the back end of the summer, so there won’t be a heap of training, but we can certainly help each other along the way, picking each other’s brains and things like that.”
The series opener against New Zealand at Eden Park will be Mooney’s 200th match for Australia, becoming just the seventh player to achieve the feat. The 31-year-old confessed it was 200 more than she thought she’d play.
“When you’re in the thick of it, you don’t think about it too much,” Mooney said when asked about the milestone.
“But when I retire, whenever that is, I’ll have a chance to reflect, and I’m sure I’ll take some pride out of it.”
Mooney, who averages 41.21 in the game’s shortest format, is also 191 runs away from leapfrogging former captain Meg Lanning to become Australia’s leading run-scorer in T20Is.
New Zealand, the reigning T20 World Cup champions, have welcomed the return of captain Sophie Devine, leg-spinner Amelia Kerr and bowler Lea Tahuhu for the Australia T20 series.
Last year, despite suffering a 60-run loss to Australia during the group stage, the White Ferns defeated the West Indies and South Africa in the knockouts to win their maiden T20 World Cup title.
“They won that T20 World Cup, but T20 World Cups can be a bit about timing, and they got the timing right with their performances,” Mooney.
“It’ll be a really good challenge for us … we know that when we come up against them, it’s usually a pretty hotly-contested series.
“The New Zealand women have probably been a little bit under-resourced for many years, and they’re reaping the rewards of some investment in recent times in their domestic set-up and the White Ferns.”
The first T20 between New Zealand and Australia gets underway at Eden Park on Friday at 12.45pm AEDT.
Discussion about this post