Beth Mooney is set to become Australia’s new full-time wicketkeeper, with Alyssa Healy moving into the field for her farewell series against India. Australia currently trail 4-2 on points in the multi-format series after losing the T20 leg, and Healy will return to captain the side for the first ODI in Brisbane.
Healy’s retirement tour will mark the beginning of a fortnight-long farewell, featuring three ODIs followed by a final Test at the WACA next month. The 35-year-old has been Australia’s first-choice wicketkeeper since 2014 and holds a world-record 275 dismissals across all formats. However, she has not kept wicket since the end of the WBBL, instead playing purely as a fielder for New South Wales in the WNCL. She is still expected to open the batting during the ODI series.
Mooney had long been viewed as Australia’s next long-term wicketkeeping option, but the transition appears to have been brought forward to this home summer. There is a growing belief that her glovework has improved significantly over the past year, allowing her to secure the role on merit. Mooney’s elevation comes after she filled in as wicketkeeper on 28 occasions for Australia, primarily when Healy was unavailable.
“It’s been pretty tough, to be honest. I think I’ve been a bit of a gap filler at times. The fielding side of things, I probably get shipped around the field a bit in different positions in the field. I was never in one place, so that was pretty tough to train for at times. Then having to do my keeping as well in and around that, I always found it quite difficult to balance all of that. I really enjoyed that I could offer that to the captain and the coach, as well as being a bit more versatile in the field. But it’ll certainly be nice just going to training and knowing I’m just going to keep and bat, and that’s it,” said Mooney as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
Mooney believes she has developed significantly as a wicketkeeper over the past year, crediting the opportunities she has had wearing the gloves for Australia. Looking ahead, Australia faces a busy schedule beyond this home summer. They are set to embark on a multi-format tour of the West Indies starting next month. Following that, their focus will shift to the T20 World Cup in England in June.
“Because I’ve had a little bit more of a go at it in the Australian team, through injury with Alyssa, it’s made it a little bit easier to get more confident. That’s probably correlated with me keeping a little bit better as well in recent times. I’ve done it a bit more consistently,” said Mooney.
“My movement’s a lot better, a lot more crisp, not as laboured. And I think I’m just a little bit more confident having kept to a lot of these bowlers a bit more. I think it’s really hard to come into a team and you might never have kept Ash Gardner or something like that,” she concluded.
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