Mooney edges towards rare air as batting 'peak' continues

One standout innings will see Beth Mooney enter Australia's top five all-time female run-scorers but the world's top-ranked T20I batter believes she is still to reach her "ceiling" as a cricketer.

Mooney returned to the nets in Brisbane last Friday under the watchful eye of national head coach Shelley Nitschke after enjoying a couple of months off – her longest break from the game in three years, and since the ramping up of the women's schedule courtesy of more international cricket and the arrival of the Women's Premier League in India and The Hundred in the UK.

The extended time off, Mooney told cricket.com.au, is instructive of the stage of her career at which she finds herself. Having turned 30 at the beginning of the year, the left-hander is in a traditional sweet spot for batters in terms of her age, and has the experience of 179 internationals to call upon.

"I think (the time off) probably speaks volumes; I used to be the player that would start hitting in May, and do 10 weeks of training in the nets hitting balls, trying to perfect every shot," she said. "And now I'm at a place where I know I only need a few weeks and a few hits here and there to work through some different stuff to prepare me to play.

"I'm probably at a point where I'm really confident in my process, and what I need resource-wise around me to be successful, but I certainly by no means think I've reached my ceiling. I still have that ambition and drive to want to be better and be one of the best players in the world, so who really knows where the (age) sweet spot is? Hopefully in two years' time we're having another conversation, and I still feel like I can get better.

"That's the age-old question when you turn 30 – 'How much longer are you going to play for?' – but the thing I love the most about cricket, and especially about batting, is the problem-solving side of the game. And I still think there's plenty of problems for me to try and solve batting-wise, while contributing to team success."

Mooney, who first turned out for Australia in a T20I in January 2016, is just 106 runs short of going past Hall of Famer Belinda Clark's mark of 5,662 international runs, which would leave her trailing only Meg Lanning (8,352), current teammates Ellyse Perry (6,764) and Alyssa Healy (6,371), and another Hall of Famer in Karen Rolton (6,221) among her female compatriots.

She is also set to play her 100th T20I when Australia takes on New Zealand in Mackay in September as a forerunner to the T20I World Cup in Bangladesh the following month – a tournament in which she again looms as her side's batting rock as they enter a major ICC event without Meg Lanning for the first time since 2010.

"One hundred T20s? God, I didn't think I would play one – and I got told by a few people I wouldn't even play one, so it'd be pretty special if I make that," she said.

"I'm just confident now in what I've got to work with, I suppose. I know what works for me and what doesn't, and I know how to respond to different results and challenges and feedback.

"It takes a long time to get there, but I've certainly got the right people around me now to help me navigate that."

Mooney's next assignment is a return to The Hundred tournament, after she was snapped up second in this year's draft by Manchester Originals. Prior to that, she will again link up with the national squad for a second winter camp in Brisbane next month, before shifting focus in September to a three-match T20I series against New Zealand in Mackay, which will serve as preparation for the World Cup.

The Hervey Bay product was a standout during the team's last series in the regional Queensland centre, hitting 125no in the second ODI against India to lead the hosts to a record run chase – arguably her finest innings in Australian gold.