Mooney finds her WBBL|03 groove

Brisbane Heat opener Beth Mooney has admitted it was something of a relief to post her first big score of the Rebel WBBL season after smashing a match-winning 86 not out at Adelaide Oval on Friday.

Mooney was last week named both the ICC Twenty20 Player of the Year and Emerging Player of the Year – accolades handed out for her barnstorming knocks of 86no and 117no during the T20 component of the Commonwealth Bank Women’s Ashes last month, as well as for her strong form in the 50-over format throughout the year.

But prior to Friday’s clash with the Strikers, that Ashes form had yet to fully translate into WBBL|03 runs with Mooney scoring 23, 10, 39 and 11 across the Heat’s first four matches.

And with her team sitting on just one win from those four games, the 23-year-old couldn’t have picked a better time to find form.

With Brisbane needing 114 runs to win after an impressive performance from their bowlers had restricted Adelaide to 6-113, Mooney was in no mood to mess around.

She sent the third ball she faced to the boundary, replicated the result with the next legal delivery she faced and the Queenslander was away.

Mooney’s 57-ball 86no featured 10 boundaries and one six and she scored a remarkable 75.44 per cent of her team’s score – a WBBL record – as the Heat reached their target with nine wickets in hand and four overs to spare.

"I never dreamed I would play a series like that in the Ashes, especially after the Test didn't go the way I wanted," Mooney reflected after Friday's match.

"I was honoured and humbled to be named T20 Player of the Year at the ICC awards, but it comes with expectations and I put of lot of those on myself, so I was really disappointed in the first four games with the play I played.

"I never really got off to a good start to put the team in a winning position, so it's really nice to come out today and get a win on the board."

While she hadn't put together the sort of big innings she wanted in those early matches, Mooney said she hadn't been dissuaded from playing her usual attacking style of cricket.

"There's a particular way I like to play and sometimes it doesn't come off, so I have to try and be positive the whole way through even if it isn't coming off all the time," she said.

"The nature of the way I want to play and of T20 cricket is you have to go hard early and I'm not going to shy away from that after a few low scores.

"I was fortunate enough it came off today and that the players put us in a good position as well."

The performance will please Australia head coach Matthew Mott, who has been keeping a watchful eye over WBBL|03 – either in person or via cricket.com.au’s live stream – as he assesses the form of his top players ahead of next year’s limited-overs tour of India.

And with a World T20 looming in the Caribbean next November, a tournament Australia will be desperate to win after surrendering their 20-over crown to the West Indies at the last event in 2016, he hopes Mooney is one player who could prove the difference this time around.

"Her resilience is what stands out the most for me,” Mott told cricket.com.au of Mooney last week.

"She was bitterly disappointed to miss out on the one-day series (during the Ashes) and it was just due to team balance that she missed out.

"I couldn't be more impressed with the way she dealt with that and she's a great role model for her response to missing out on teams.

"As Matthew Hayden said, ‘It’s not about getting bitter, it’s getting better’. She came out and played a game (in the third Ashes T20) that even the most ardent fans of hers wouldn’t have realised she was capable of.

"She’s sent a great message to all our players, that if you get up and smash down the door, you can really make a statement to the selection panel that you want to be there for a long time.”

Mooney’s Ashes performances also caught the eye of injured Australian skipper Meg Lanning, who was forced to watch the series from the sidelines after undergoing shoulder surgery.

"Beth Mooney is going to be a great player for Australia,” Lanning said this week.

“She’s very composed and threatened to play well as an international player during the last couple of years but hadn’t quite been able to deliver.

"Hopefully that was her breakthrough tour and she feels confident enough at international level now that she can go on and perform really well."

Adelaide and Brisbane will square off again on New Year's Eve at Adelaide Oval, with the match to kick off at 1.15pm local time.

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