A stunning Beth Mooney century powered Australia to a 101-run victory in the third One-Day International as Meg Lanning’s side wrapped up a series whitewash at North Sydney Oval.
Mooney’s innings have improved with each match since she took the gloves and stepped into the opener’s role in the absence of an injured Alyssa Healy in this series. After she was out for one in the opening game, the 29-year-old scored an unbeaten 57 in the second game as part of an opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield as the pair comfortably chased down the modest target in Brisbane.
But it was in Sydney that Mooney truly found her groove, overcoming a scratchy start to post a career-best 133 runs as Australia set Pakistan a monumental 337 runs for victory.
Mooney had to grind early against excellent opening spells from Fatima Sana and Diana Baig, whose tight lines and subtle seam movement made scoring difficult despite the batting-friendly pitch and obligingly short boundaries.
Litchfield scraped nine runs before playing down the wrong line to a ball from Sana that angled in and straightened before clattering into the top of off stump, the first dismissal of her three-match career.
With an aggressive Lanning replacing Litchfield in the middle, Mooney patiently played herself in. In the 16th over she broke the shackles with a pair of boundaries, casually lofting Nashra Sandhu over mid-off and then unfurling the crisp cover drive that often signals she has settled into her innings.
Mooney shifted through the gears with all the grace of a well-tuned Ferrari; she was 11 off 30 balls early on, brought her half-century up with a sweep for four and her third ODI century came via a pull shot for yet another boundary, one of 14 in total.
When she then cleared the rope three times in succession, the engine was roaring, along with the crowd.
Pakistan had made four changes from the previous match and it was their debutant leg spinner, Tuba Hassan, who Mooney powerfully attacked, sweeping a flat six over the square leg rope then launching the next ball over deep mid-wicket onto the roof of the O’Reilly stand. The following delivery flew even further, bouncing on the same roof before rolling over the back of the stand.
It was a remarkable display; Mooney had cleared the rope just four times in her previous 56 ODIs and, after an earlier carve over the wide long-off boundary, she had equalled her career total in one innings.
Mooney was ably supported by Lanning, who contributed 72 off 70 balls before edging behind playing her favoured cut shot to a Baig ball that cramped her for room. Remarkably, Mooney and Lanning had never before posted a hundred-run partnership but the 160 runs scored between them off 139 balls made up more than half of Australia’s total of 336.
Mooney eventually lost her balance attempting to run a Nida Dar ball to deep third and was stumped by Muneeba Ali, departing on 133 from just 105 balls. It left Australia 3 for 237 and the gave the middle and lower order a chance to bat for the first time in the series. They were understandably aggressive — Annabel Sutherland whacked 26 off 13 — but wickets fell regularly as a result, helped by the return of Sana and Baig - who took three and two wickets, respectively — at the death.
It was an improved performance from Pakistan in the field and in the chase there were some encouraging signs; they batted out the full complement of 50 overs and the top four scored 167 runs, more than the entire team managed in each of the first two ODIs, with captain Bismah Maroof contributing 44.
But Australia’s bowling stocks are too rich and Ash Gardner, with the best figures of 3 for 30 off ten overs, allowed the world champions to keep Pakistan to 7 for 235.
The teams next meet in three T20Is as they prepare for February’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa and, while the shortest format can produce surprise results, it’s difficult to see how Pakistan can prevent a rampant Australia completing another series whitewash.
