Beth Mooney starred with 78 runs, as the Perth Scorchers took home the Faith Thomas Trophy against the Adelaide Strikers to open WBBL|07 First Nations Round. Image: Perth Scorchers/Twitter
In her 100th WBBL match, Beth Mooney has starred with another Player of the Match performance, setting the Perth Scorchers up for a 12 run victory against the Adelaide Strikers.
In their Indigenous kit designed by Jade Dolman, the Perth Scorchers win also sees them take home the Faith Thomas Trophy, a trophy celebrating the first Aboriginal woman to represent Australia.
It was the Scorchers opening partnership between Mooney and Sophie Devine that did the damage today, setting up a 177 run total that was too big for the Strikers to chase down.
Speaking after the match, Mooney said it was “pretty difficult through the middle” as the ball aged, however some big hitting towards the end helped push the Scorchers to a defendable total.
“We probably didn’t get as many runs through the middle as we would have liked. I think if you ask Soph (Devine), she’d probably say the same thing,” she said
“I think HG (Heather Graham) had a really incredible innings at the back end to get us to a defendable total.
“We saw that Adelaide did really well out there and I thought they had the game in the bag with five or six overs to go, I think it’s a real hard ground to defend on, but I think our bowlers did a wonderful job.”
With such a strong total on the board, Mooney said it was important the team remained focussed on winning the match.
There was a large gap between the first and second wickets, but the Scorchers had to keep building pressure and be ready to take the breakthrough opportunity when it came.
“Sometimes you can sort of just, when you’ve got a big total on the board, you can get a little bit complacent,” she said.
“So just at the 10 over mark, we spoke about wanting to win this game and being the person that shows everyone they want it.
“So, I think we’ve got 11 girls out there who were fighting really hard for a win and you know, we don’t want to take anything away from Adelaide, they batted really well.”
Mooney milestone
Mooney admitted the 100 game milestone might show her age, but she is enjoying her WBBL career right now and hoping success continues with the Scorchers.
“It’s probably not something I thought I’d be doing, playing WBBL cricket.” She reflected.
“But, to play 100 straight is really exciting, probably showing my age a little bit as well.
“But I’ve been fortunate enough to win a couple of titles in that time and obviously jump ship to the Scorchers who have treated me really well and made me feel really welcome here, so hopefully I’ve got a few more in me for the Scorchers and win a couple more titles.
The move across to Perth was one Mooney had some reservations about, however, with the Scorchers on top of the table at the end of the match it’s paying off for herself personally, as well as the team.
“I think, first and foremost, I’ve been lucky to get lots of opportunity with both Brisbane Heat and the Scorchers, so to be able to do what I did at Brisbane and come and do that at Perth, is something that I’m pretty proud of.
“I was pretty nervous to swap teams, in the end but Perth threw me a bone and wanted me on their team, so that obviously helped.”
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Across her 100 matches, Beth Mooney has scored more than 3500 runs, a milestone she passed last week in a washed out match against the Thunder.
Her consistency with the bat across all formats is remarkable and comes down to incredible self-belief.
“I think just belief in what I’m doing.
“I don’t change too much. I never hit before a game – people probably scratch their heads at that, but it works for me – so I do things a little bit differently.
“And at times when you’re not going well, it’s really easy to question that, but for me, I know if I stick to the same processes and the belief that I have in that, then the results will take care of themselves.
“And I’m not going to shy away from the fact that there’s days where it doesn’t work out, but you’ve got to live with those and celebrate the ones that you do.”
The Perth Scorchers have back-to-back matches at Adelaide Oval this weekend, first up against the Stars at 9:45am AEDT on Saturday, followed by the Sydney Sixers on Sunday from 10:15am AEDT.
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