Standing amid the ruins, Beth Mooney played a brilliant 109-run innings, forging a record partnership with Alana King to give Australia a fighting total.
When Mooney came to the crease, Australia’s score was 30/2. In the blink of an eye, the team lost a few more wickets, teetering on the edge of collapse. But Mooney didn’t give up. With her exceptional batting, she delivered a century and, alongside King, stitched together a record partnership that provided Australia with a defendable total.
In the Women’s World Cup clash against Pakistan on Wednesday in Colombo, Australia’s innings had crumbled. At one point, they were 76/7, with the team facing the prospect of being bowled out cheaply. But through Mooney and King’s brilliance, Australia recovered to 221.
Mooney, who came in at the eighth over, scored her 109 runs off 114 balls, hitting 11 fours without a single six.
This marked Mooney’s fifth ODI century and her first triple-figure score in this edition of the World Cup. The 31-year-old left-hander achieved this milestone under immense pressure.
Batting at number 10, King remained unbeaten on 51, becoming the first woman in ODIs to score a fifty from this position.
Together, Mooney and King put on an astonishing 106-run partnership for the ninth wicket—the first century partnership at this position or lower in women’s ODIs. The previous record also belonged to Australia, when Ashley Gardner and Kim Garth had stitched together 77 runs against South Africa last year.
After losing the toss and being asked to bat at Premadasa Stadium, Australia quickly lost their openers, Alissa Healy and Phoebe Litchfield, in the powerplay. Mooney anchored one end, steadily adding runs, while wickets fell at the other end. By the 22nd over, Australia had lost their seventh wicket.
Of Australia’s first eight batters, only three reached double figures. Two fell for 1 and 5 runs, and one was out for a duck. Mooney received brief support from Garth, and their 39-run partnership pushed the team past a century. Mooney reached a fifty off 63 balls before Garth was dismissed.
Then began the partnership with King. Mooney kept the scoreboard ticking at one end, while King provided steady support at the other. In her first 34 balls, King managed only 16 runs, striking just a single boundary.
Mooney reached her long-awaited century in the 48th over. Her innings is already being hailed as one of the greatest in women’s ODI history.
In the final over, King smashed consecutive sixes off Fatima Sana to reach her first ODI fifty in just 48 balls. Meanwhile, Mooney struck two fours on the fourth and fifth deliveries before being caught at cover on the final ball.
