Beth Mooney surprises local juniors as ICC Women's T20 World Cup Trophy Tour driven by Nissan visits Brisbane
The world’s fifth ranked T20 International batter was at Allan Border Field to meet the star-struck girls as part of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Trophy Tour, driven by Nissan.
The Bulimba Cricket Club attracted global attention in 2018 through 12-year-old Olivia Cotter, who wrote to a cricket equipment manufacturer enquiring why girls cricket sizes were not available to purchase.
“It’s probably a bit of a surreal moment. When I was their age I was playing boys cricket and we never had anything like this, I never got to meet any of the players and I couldn’t even tell you who was on the teams," Mooney said.
"My favourite player was a male, Mike Hussey and now it’s sort of unbelievable that the girls can peel off all the names of the Australian Women’s team.”
Mooney is one of three Queenslanders selected in the Australian squad, which follows Brisbane Heat’s consecutive WBBL titles – helping play a pivotal role to inspire local girls to play cricket.
According to the most recent census, cricket participation across Queensland grew by 10% to 336,402 in 2018-19, including 11% growth in female participation, which now makes up 33% of total participation following consistent growth in recent years.
Many of those new participants will be able to see Mooney play in front of her home crowd when Australia play West Indies at Allan Border Field in an ICC Women’s T20 World Cup warm-up match on February 15 2020.
“Excitement I think is the word. If you’re lucky you get to play one and if you’re really lucky you get to play two (World Cups) in your career and just the capacity to be able to have friends and family and young girls that know our names supporting us throughout the tournament. Whether it’s at a warm-up game in Brisbane or the first game against India at Sydney Showgrounds, I think it’s just a really important time.”
With bushfires devastating families, communities and wildlife across Australia, the ICC T20 World Cup 2020 will also use the Trophy Tour as a platform to promote bushfire emergency relief efforts, which includes encouraging the global cricket family to support fundraising through our charity partner UNICEF Australia. Read the statement here.