Bring on the old enemy

Backyard matches and filling a vacancy in her older brother’s team when she was eight got her started in cricket but opening bat Beth Mooney, 23, is now at the top of her game. She debuted for the Australia women’s ­national team in a Twenty20 match against India on Australia Day 2016 and in February this year scored her maiden One Day International century against New Zealand. She plays in the Women’s Big Bash League team Brisbane Heat and in the Women’s National Cricket league (WNCL) team, Queensland Fire. Mooney, a wicketkeeper and batter, has worked her way up through the ranks of state cricket from junior level – from when she made the under-12 Queensland schoolgirls team – and was named WBBL player of the tournament last summer.