Beth Mooney Wants Australian Women's Team To Work On The Basics

Despite earning a massive nine-wicket win against hosts Ireland in the second match of the Tri-Nation Women's T20I Series, T20 World Cup champions Australia need to do a little better in basics of the game, feels opener Beth Mooney.

In a series which is seen as fine-tuning preparations for the women's T20 event at 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Australia have been expectedly rusty in the first two matches of the tri-series, conceding 28 extras from the eight overs played in Saturday's washout against Pakistan, and leaking 11 wides and two no balls during the win over Ireland.

"We probably just need to do the basics a little bit better We had a few more wides today, as well as some fumbles and missed chances in the field run-out wise, so I guess fine- tuning those things," Beth was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au after the match.

At the same time, Beth was appreciative of how Australia were able to play after adjusting to different conditions and a new time zone post their arrival in Ireland last week. "We probably didn't have as much time as we would have liked, only two sessions before getting stuck into the games."

"But at the same time this is a great opportunity for us to adjust and adapt on the fly. We're really good problem solvers as a group, so for us to go out there and have to do it on the fly is really important coming into the Commonwealth Games."

Beth, 27, who missed the T20I leg of Women's Ashes due to a fractured jaw, sparkled with an unbeaten 45 off 33 balls and is eager to get going as an opener in T20Is, compared to her role as a middle-order batter in ODIs.

"For me, it's just about knowing there's a little bit more time than you think, but still having that intent to score. You don't want to be chewing up too many balls in T20 cricket and leaving your teammates with a lot of work to do. So for me, it's about making sure I've got really good intent, trying to hit the ball hard along the ground early and opening up the field like that."

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With Australia set to face Ireland again on Thursday, Beth hinted at Australia experimenting more with the batting order. "Now that we've played Ireland, we might be able to have a few different plans as a batting group. We haven't played them for a long time so you have to come up with plans on the run and potentially spend a few extra balls than you would normally working that out, so we'll come together and have different plans and things that we need to work on."