Mooney's star turn soured by defeat

Australia opener Beth Mooney's fondness for New Zealand wickets continued on Sunday when she scored her maiden one-day international century at Eden Park, but the opener admits she isn't entirely satisfied with her breakthrough knock.

Mooney's even 100 ultimately came in a losing cause with New Zealand easing to a five-wicket win in the final over.

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The 23-year-old said while the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars had believed they had the firepower to defend their 275, the dismissals of several set batters – including herself – during the final seven overs cost the tourists what could have proved a decisive extra 20 or 30 runs.

Travelling nicely at 3-237 in the 42nd over with Mooney on 94 and Elyse Villani on 50, Australia lost 7-38 to be bowled out for 275.

"It was my fault getting out at the end there with six overs to go, it was a perfect opportunity to get an extra 20 runs and set the platform for the batters coming in," Mooney said after New Zealand took a 1-0 lead in the Rose Bowl series.

"We were cruising to get above 300 but we lost wickets at the wrong times and lost them in clumps at the end which didn't help us as well.

"(But) we've got one of the best bowling attacks, if not the best in the world, so 275 was definitely a defendable score.

"We'll have to go back and have a look at what went wrong and work on things before the next game.

"Everyone's individual plans were pretty good but it just wasn't our day with the ball and we had a few errors in the field and a few wides as well."

But while her century didn't produce the winning outcome Australia wanted, it was a breakthrough match for Mooney on a personal level as she repaid the faith of the Southern Stars selectors.

After being handed the role of opener during last November's ODI series against South Africa when Villani was shifted into the middle order, Mooney's first two matches in the position saw her dismissed for 14 and 20 and despite an outstanding Rebel Women's Big Bash League with the bat, the Queenslander struggled at the top of the order during last week's T20 series loss to New Zealand, out for 1, 4 and 1.

On that form, Mooney wasn't exactly expecting to be raising her bat for a three-figure score at Eden Park in the Rose Bowl opener, but she now hopes to cement her position ahead of the 50-over World Cup in England this June.

"It was pretty cool. After the T20 series I thought that (first century) would be further away than this series," the 23-year-old said.

"But it was nice and I'm happy the selectors backed me to do a job and that I was able to do that today."

Australia were without two of their most experienced players on Sunday with Alex Blackwell and Ellyse Perry both sidelined due to hamstring injuries, but having been called up for her first international appearance since 2013, NSW batter Rachael Haynes impressed with a half-century, while Villani also broke through to score her first ever ODI half-century.

"Rachael's done well to come back and score a fifty in her back game back (and) Villani smoked it, she made it look like a different wicket to the one I was batting on," Mooney said.

"She's worked her bum off to do things like that for the team and she did exactly what was needed so I'm very happy for her.

"Obviously Blackwell and Perry have played a lot for Australia and are very experienced, so having them back in the team will be very nice."

Australia now head to Mount Maunganui's Bay Oval for the final two matches of the series and with Blackwell and Perry set to return, Mooney is confident the tourists can bounce back to level the series at the same ground where she scored 53 on debut last February, and where the Southern Stars produced back-to-back victories to retain the Rose Bowl.

"We had a nice time (in Mount Maunganui) this time last year.

"We've got a couple of days to freshen up now and think hard about what we need to do to turn it around."