A keeper-batter combo, Beth Mooney has come a long way since she started off as a 16-year old for Queensland Fire in the 2009-10 season. After a couple of middling seasons, she rose to the limelight in the 2012-13 season when she amassed runs at a staggering average of 44. Her consistency through the season ensured that she had four half-centuries to her name too.
In 2015, she signed up with Yorkshire. In a fruitful season with the bat and with 15 dismissals with the gloves, she played a stellar role in taking her side to winning the title. She carried her form through for the the Brisbane Heat in the inaugural Women's Big Bash League, where she emerged as the tournament's fifth highest run-scorer.
Despite not being in the eleven, Mooney had the good fortune of being a part of the victorious squad in the 2014 World T20 in Bangladesh. With Alyssa Healy the team's trusted comrade behind the stumps, she was unable to break into the playing eleven. It required an injury to Healy early in 2016 to grant Mooney her T20 debut against India at Adelaide. An ODI debut followed soon after against New Zealand where she started off with a fifty.
A batswoman-keeper at first, Mooney now has carved a position for herself at the top of the batting order as a specialist opener, so much so that in 2017 she won both the ICC T20I Player of the Year and the Emerging Player of the Year. She followed up her performances in the 2018 World T20, where she forged a valuable opening combo with Healy and played a crucial role in the Southern Stars winning the title.
Vineet Anantharaman
