FLICKING THE SWITCH
Cricket transforms Mooney
CRICKET: Away from the crease, Queensland’s Beth Mooney is a meticulous planner – entirely risk-averse, she weighs up all the facts before making a decision about anything.
As such, she doesn’t own any shares, has recently fretted about buying a house and she’s never bet on anything in her life.
But when she’s at the crease, it’s pure and simple instinct.
“I’m not a spontaneous person,” the 26-year-old said.
“Change scares me a little bit, as it does most humans, so I’ll collect all the information before I make a decision about anything.
“I have to think through everything, all the possible outcomes before I’m ready … every decision I make comes with a lot of thinking time, so cricket’s a good one because it puts me under the pump with my decision-making.”
As an example, Mooney explained what happened when she recently bought a house.
“A few months ago, I put in an offer on a house and it was the first one I’d done and I just thought it wouldn’t matter if I didn’t get it, it was just good experience,” she said.
“But I ended up getting it and then I rang up my best friend and my mortgage broker and just said: ‘Oh, I’ve stuffed up. I don’t think this is a good idea, it’s a lot of money’.
“If I make a decision that is a bit risky, I genuinely panic.
“With cricket, I know what I’ve done in the nets and where my game is and I know that once I walk out there I’ve got the capacity to transfer that into a game.”
As one half of the opening partnership for the Australian women’s team, alongside gun wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy,
Mooney thrives on the challenge of batting at the top of the order.
“You live and die by the sword up there … you have to take the game on and take some risks,” she said.
“I’m pretty risk-averse off the field so it’s probably a bit funny that I look forward to that challenge when I walk on to the field, but I think it (opening) is the best place to bat.
“You get to face the most amount of balls, you’ve only got two fielders out and the best bowlers are bowling and you want to take it to them.”
Mooney scored 208 runs across Australia’s five matches in the recent T20 tri-series against England and India, including a vital unbeaten 71 in Australia’s series final win on February 12.
She shapes as vital to Australia’s hopes of winning back-toback T20 World Cup trophies and is determined to show traditional cricket shots still have their place in the quick-paced format.
“I do love a good cover drive, a proper cricket shot,” she said.
“With the way T20 is going, especially with the men, it’s all about who can hit it the furthest and the hardest, whereas I find I still want to be the kind of person that makes others believe there is still a place for traditional batters in a T20 line-up.
“Hopefully I can continue to create room for those players.”