The Answer: Ton-up Mooney continues to 'find a way'

After Australia lifted the T20 World Cup trophy at Lord's in early July, most of their newly crowned world champions embraced their 'Euro summer' by flocking to the beaches of the Mediterranean for a well-earned break.

Not so Beth Mooney, who grabbed her helmet and lycra and headed to the Alps for a road cycling holiday – one that was balanced out with good food, good wine and a good read, of course.

Whether it's on the field, at home, or exploring far-flung corners of the world, Mooney is content to march to the beat of her own drum, and she credits her ability to compartmentalise and to balance cricket with her other passions – gruelling days in the saddle among the things that fall in that category – as one of the keys to her decade-long success at international level.

Mooney is set to play her 100th one-day international in her hometown of Brisbane on Wednesday, against Bangladesh at Allan Border Field, in the latest milestone in a decorated international career that started in early 2016.

The 32-year-old will head into that game as Australia's seventh-highest run-scorer in one-dayers with 3,288 runs at an average of 49.81, including six centuries. She's also their third-highest scorer across all formats behind Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry, and has been wicketkeeping since the start of the year following Alyssa Healy's retirement.

"It's pretty amazing, I think it's a good opportunity to reflect on (a period) that's been sometimes challenging but a lot of fun time in my life," Mooney said of the milestone.

"It's hard to believe a hundred games have passed in the last 10 or 11 years in 50-over cricket, but I'm proud of what the team's achieved in that time, and the journeys we've been on in different groups, and the role that I've played in that success along the way.

"It is nice to be at home .... to be able to ask some people to come down and have a watch and be part of the day, so very grateful that it's been able to be played at AB Field, where I've played a lot of my cricket."

Mooney's T20 international debut came at Adelaide against India in January 2016, off the back of a standout first WBBL season for the Brisbane Heat. The then 22-year-old was presented with her cap by Shelley Nitschke, who would go on to become Australia head coach and one of Mooney's closest mentors.

An ODI debut might have been further away had Alyssa Healy not picked up a hamstring niggle playing India in Hobart a couple of weeks later. When Australia flew directly to New Zealand afterwards, Mooney was in tow and ultimately took the gloves for the series opener at Mount Maunganui.

She shunned the traditional 'keeping helmet for the match, instead donning a backwards cap with a facemask – a sartorial choice she reflects on with "regrets, mad regrets – although it was comfy at the time" – and pouched two catches, while also top-scoring with 53 opening the batting alongside Nicole Bolton in a narrow defeat. Healy returned for the second game of the series, but Mooney held onto the opening spot for the rest of the series.

The left-hander's ODI career hit a brief roadblock in 2017 when she was dropped in the aftermath of Australia's World Cup semi-final exit, but it was a temporary blip, with Mooney forcing her way back into the XI just three games later – this time, down the order.

She has since become a mainstay of the middle-order in the format, a sign of her versatility, given she is the world's leading opening batter in the T20I format.

"I think, especially in the 50-over format, I was probably searching for a way to play the game for a period of time," Mooney told cricket.com.au of her 2017 axing. "But then, once I found a method that worked – and probably moving to the middle order helped – I learned a lot about how to play the game batting in the middle-order in 50-over cricket.

"So, whilst I was disappointed to get dropped from the team back in 2017 … once I came back in a few months later in the middle-order, I think that certainly taught me a lot about the game and how to bat in lots of different scenarios.

"I can't take too much of the credit, I've had certainly a significant amount of help along the way ... the support I had from 'Motty' (Matthew Mott) when he coached, and now Shelley (Nitschke) having taken over and Dan Marsh as (Australia) batting coach, I can't thank those guys enough for the faith they put in me and Shawn Flegler as well as the selector."

Mooney has come a long way from the reserve 'keeper who, given Healy was entrenched behind the stumps, had to evolve to ensure she could command a place at international level as a specialist batter.

After being told by coaches in 2015 that she needed to get fitter to make it at international level, the left-hander – who hated running – instead bought a road bike, discovering that love for cycling that endures.

Paving her own way to the top of the game by finding methods that work for her has been key to Mooney's success.

Famously, she never faces a throwdown in the warm-ups before a match, preferring her first delivery of the day to come in the middle.

"I'm a bit of an enigma," Mooney laughed. "I don't hit on game day. I'm pretty particular about my preparation, but I like to think that I do all the hard work before I show up to the game, and then I just get to enjoy the game.

"Sometimes it comes off, and sometimes it doesn't. But one thing I like to pride myself on is the consistency of that preparation and making sure I remain composed and level – I like to think I'm pretty level when I play my cricket; it's not being too up or too down, and also understanding that it's not a sport you're going to be good at every time you walk out there, and maintaining a level of composure when it's not going as well as we want it to.

"I think I've been called steady at times, which I don't mind … I think it's a compliment in terms of my demeanour, and I like to remain as composed as possible.

"But perhaps it is the way I live my life as a whole. It really helps with the cricket side of things, but also my capacity to compartmentalise is probably a bit higher than most."

Away from the game, Mooney has struck a critical balance between her identity as a professional cricketer and as regular 'Beth', the person who dotes on her dog Ruby and who has built a strong community in Brisbane.

That need for balance drove Mooney's request to remain based in Brisbane after switching state allegiances to Western Australia in 2022, amid an increasingly busy touring schedule, with an ICC event staged every year alongside bilateral commitments and major franchise leagues in India and England.

"Part of the reasoning for that is I've got a great network of people here in Brisbane who are basically like family to me (and who) have nothing to do with cricket," she said. "They keep me grounded. My peloton group, my cycling group, is amazing, and they all just treat me like a normal human, so it's pretty easy to switch off from cricket when I'm at home here in Brisbane.

"WA Cricket have done a lot for me there in making sure I can play when I can over there and be really comfortable when I'm over there for the Scorchers, but it was really important to me to maintain that network of people away from the game and staying in Brisbane for that."

Asked to describe Mooney's 'signature shot' at a recent content camp, her teammates produced a broad array of answers. It's an illustration of the way in which the left-hander has continued to quietly evolve and build on her game.

But Ellyse Perry may have summed it up best when she said: "I think her signature is just her grittiness and her determination."

Beyond Mooney's craftiness and skill with the willow, it is her sheer ability to thrive in the toughest situations have that underpinned her success.

Whether it was overcoming illness to play a match-winning innings to secure the Brisbane Heat's first WBBL title in 2019, or grinding out 109 to rescue Australia from 7-75 against Pakistan at last year's ODI World Cup, it is a trait that can't be taught.

"The way that she just turns up in big moments and just finds a way all the time ... she's almost impossible to bowl to because she has an answer for every kind of challenge in front of her, so I think that's probably her signature," Perry told cricket.com.au.

"Beth's one of those people you would pick to have on your side in any situation – she's just got an answer to all kinds of tough situations, and she always contributes in the field too, whether that's with the gloves or in the field.

"I think that gets missed sometimes, just how much she does for the side … she always turns up, she's just this real consistent figure in our team."

Much like her matter-of-fact approach to tackling challenges in the middle, Mooney is a straight talker off the field.

Recently asked to comment on Australia's home scheduling, the wicketkeeper-batter expressed her frustration that women's cricket had been pushed to the shoulder seasons, with no international cricket or WBBL to be played in the school holidays for at least the next three years.

"We don't want to be the sport that falls behind because we're just getting it wrong," she told AAP. "We're just pushing it uphill, because we're in a bad timeslot and it's a bad time of year for parents."

Her comments set the news agenda for the week leading into Australia's first ODI against Bangladesh last week, and prompted a response from Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg, who said different playing windows were being explored.

While Mooney on Tuesday was quick to laugh off a suggestion she could have a future in the game's governance, the discourse demonstrated the impact a player of her prominence can have on the game.

"The game is heading in a similar direction to the men's game, where there's so much cricket to be played and probably not enough space in the calendar to fit it all, so I certainly understand the challenge of it," she said on Tuesday. "But I think it's important that as players we speak up about the role that we have to get the next generation into the game and get people watching the game of cricket, no matter who's playing, and making it easily accessible for everyone.

"At the moment, it feels like it's not overly accessible ... I think it's really important that all the stakeholders have a bit of a voice in this.

"As a senior player and someone that walks out to bat, and I see young boys and girls in the crowd, that means that we're doing our job really well – we just need a little bit more help along the way."

NRMA Insurance Women's ODI Series v Bangladesh

First ODI: Australia won by seven wickets

Second ODI: Australia won by nine wickets

Third ODI: Wednesday, October 14 (D/N)

* All matches played at Allan Border Field, Brisbane, starting at 1:50pm local

Australia ODI squad: Tahlia McGrath (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham 

Bangladesh ODI squad: Nigar Sultana (c), Nahida Akter, Shorna Akter, Marufa Akter, Rabeya Khan, Ritu Moni, Sobhana Mostary, Sarmin Sultana, Sharmin Akter, Sanjida Akther, Sultana Khatun, Dilara Akter, Farzana Haque, Disha Biswas, Murshida Khatun, Habiba Islam

NRMA Insurance Women's T20 Series v New Zealand

First T20I: Sunday, October 18

Second T20I: Tuesday, October 20

Third T20I: Thursday, October 22

* All matches played at North Sydney Oval starting at 7:15pm AEDT

Australia T20I squad: Sophie Molineux (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham 

New Zealand T20I squad: Melie Kerr (c), Eden Carson, Flora Devonshire, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Bree Illing, Polly Inglis (wk), Bella James, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Nensi Patel, Molly Penfold, Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe, Izzy Sharp

All women's international matches will be shown live on Seven, 7Plus, Kayo Sports and Foxtel