Beth Mooney has upped the aggression in the Powerplay on her way to being Australia’s leading run scorer at this T20 World Cup
As Australia’s all-time leading T20I run scorer, Beth Mooney has long been a scary prospect for rival bowling attacks at the top of the order.
The left-hander has levelled up at the T20 World Cup, being more aggressive in the Powerplay as Australia look to maximise returns against early fielding restrictions and get the most out of their deep batting order.
Mooney has traditionally been seen as more of an accumulator at the top of the order, the master of the chip-and-run complementing the more aggressive approach of former opening partner Alyssa Healy and now Georgia Voll.
But since Australia’s semi-final exit at the 2024 T20 World Cup, the 32-year-old has looked to go harder in the first six overs.
Across six T20Is in 2025, her Powerplay strike rate was 151, with a dot ball percentage of 35 per cent, while Mooney was finding the boundary from 24 per cent of deliveries faced.
It was a significant increase on her numbers across 62 T20I innings from 2020-24, where she struck at 102 in the Powerplay, with a dot ball percentage of 47.5 per cent, and 14.78 per cent boundary rate.
A drop off across Australia’s two series against India and West Indies earlier this year, where the opener scored 164 runs at 27.33, with a strike rate of 121 – down from her career average of 41 with an SR of 126 – saw Mooney striking at 101.58 in the Powerplay, with dots making up 44 per cent of the deliveries she faced.
She then arrived at Australia’s pre-World Cup training camp in Arundel with a renewed focus on how she was starting her innings.
She produced knocks of 40 off 21, 37 off 22 and 25 off 15 across the three unofficial warm-ups against South Africa before following up with a 26-ball 43 against England.
That form has carried into the tournament, where Mooney – currently Australia’s second highest run scorer with 174 runs in six innings, averaging 43.50 with a strike rate of 147.45 – is striking at 149.29 across the first six overs, the second highest of any opener in the World Cup behind India’s Shafali Verma (171.62).
Only Verma (36.4 per cent) and England’s Danni Wyatt-Hodge (37.6 per cent) faced fewer dot balls in the opening phase than Mooney’s 38 per cent, and 25.35 per cent of balls she faced went to the boundary.
“We’ve discussed that’s a pretty important phase of the game to try and attack, and obviously with Georgia Voll at the top of the order, it makes it pretty easy to do that,” Mooney said following Tuesday’s semi-final against the West Indies.
“From a personal point of view, I’ve certainly got the control and the skills to be able to take the game on a little bit earlier and played a lot of cricket and have a lot of data behind me to back up the fact that I can make good decisions and know what I’m doing every now and then.
“It’s not going to come off all the time, but I think that’s the way forward in T20 cricket is to really attack the Powerplay if you can and adjust where you need to along the way.
“But certainly batting with Alyssa Healy for a long time and now batting with Georgia Voll, it does make it easier to get ahead of the rate, whether you’re chasing a lower total or a big one.”
Speaking to reporters from London on Thursday, Australia coach Shelley Nitschke hailed the approach Mooney had taken since her arrival in the United Kingdom at the end of May.
Nitschke pointed to the opener’s approach in the semi-final, where she put the West Indies under immediate pressure despite Australia only required a well below-par target of 126, as evidence of the shift in her approach.
“Coming over here a little bit earlier and playing some practice games against South Africa out at Arundel, that was something Moons was outstanding at,” Nitschke said.
“She’s certainly got the game moving from the first ball, and she was excellent again in the semi against the West Indies, and taking that on.
“It’s an area of the game that she’s spoken about, and we know how skillful she is, so to see her do that on the big stage was excellent … as someone that can read the conditions pretty quickly and knows what’s on and perhaps what’s not on any given day.
“It puts us in a really good position coming out of that first six.”
ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026
Australia squad: Sophie Molineux (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton, Grace Harris, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham. Travelling reserve: Tahlia Wilson
Australia’s fixtures
June 13: beat South Africa by 65 runs
June 17: beat Bangladesh by nine wickets
June 20: beat Netherlands by 98 runs
June 24: beat Pakistan by 113 runs
June 28: beat India by six wickets
Semi-final 1: Australia beat West Indies by eight wickets
(Semi-final 2: England beat South Africa by 40 runs)
Final: Australia v England at Lord’s, London, July 5 (12:30am July 6 AEST)
Click here for the full tournament schedule
All matches will be broadcast on Amazon’s Prime Video
