Aussie women chasing T20 World Cup history

The “fickle” nature of T20 cricket will have star batter Beth Mooney taking a fourth successive World Cup triumph anything but for granted in Bangladesh in October.

No other team, men’s or women’s, has won the T20 World Cup tournament four straight times.

And Mooney, who was a part of Australia’s Cup wins in 2018, 2020 and last year, said there was a good reason for that.

“T20 World Cups are traditionally very hard to win,” she said.

“As we know, it’s a pretty fickle format, so each one we go into with certain plans and they usually get thrown out the window with a bit going on, or adversity, or the conditions.

“Everyone starts from zero when you get to a T20 World Cup, which is what people forget.”

Mooney, 30, also said the growing strength of women’s cricket worldwide meant the all-conquering Australian team couldn’t afford to take its foot off the pedal.

“We’re under no illusions to the fact that we’ve been a very successful team,” she said.

“We’re the sum of all parts in terms of each individual doing the right thing and wanting to get better and improve.

“Global cricket’s getting better just like we are. We’re getting more resources, all the other countries are getting more resources and opportunities.”

To prepare for the World Cup, Australia will play three T20 internationals against New Zealand – two in Mackay and one in Brisbane – in September.

“We have a pretty good rivalry with New Zealand so that’ll make for a pretty good contest before the T20 World Cup kicks off,” Mooney said.

Before that, Mooney will head to England next month to play for the Manchester Originals in the The Hundred women’s competition.

“I didn’t play in The Hundred last year, but this year it presented a good opportunity to play some cricket during the (Australian) winter and prepare for the T20 World Cup,” she said.

“We’ve got to really concentrate on the next few months and getting all that right leading into that T20 World Cup and then keep going from there.”

Australia’s home program beyond the World Cup includes three one-day internationals against India in December and the multi-format Ashes series against England starting in Sydney in January.

“England’s one of our great rivals and they always put up a great contest,” Mooney said

“It becomes a bit of an entertainment product in terms of it being multi-format with T20s, one-day internationals and a Test.

“There’s probably room for one more Test in the future if we’re lucky, but it’s the way forward for us to play that multi-format style and make it a points-based trophy.”