26 February - Cape Town - Australia player Beth Mooney post-match press conference

[Reporter]

Well your thoughts on churning out those half-centuries at the 2020 edition of the final, the Commonwealth Games final, the ODI World Cup final, do you not get tired ever and what keeps fueling these kinds of performances?

[Beth Mooney]

I was pretty tired after that inning today after Pez made three in a row, but no not at all. I think yeah it's an absolute privilege to play on this team. We've been very successful over a number of years and I just love waking up in the morning and putting on my Australian shirt, so hopefully they want me around for a little bit longer and hopefully I don't get too sick of it.

[Reporter]

You paced that innings really beautifully and you know it came off really well. Can you just sort of talk us through what was going through your mind at the various stages of it from start to finish?

[Beth Mooney]

Yeah I guess obviously they bowled well in the power play. I thought our power play wasn't too bad. Unfortunately we lost Midge there and you know as the day wore on I thought the week had got really tough so I wasn't too happy with how I was hitting them. I actually asked one of the girls who ran out if she could ask Shell if she wanted to retire me - because I was hitting it that bad. That didn't quite make it to Shell, but that's for next time so hopefully it does but - you know it just goes to show if you hang in there long enough and get the pace of the wicket and probably didn't have a great plan through the middle there stepping across and trying to hit it too square but once I stayed a bit stiller and hit it a bit straighter it wasn't too bad.

[Reporter]

We're used to seeing Australia win things. Where is this team now? How many more titles do you think you have in yourselves?

[Beth Mooney]

There's many as there is out there I think. We don't get tired of it. Something we speak about as a group is making sure we're always evolving along the way. I think we've seen in this tournament there are teams around the world getting better and better as the years go on and we know that we're being hunted. People looking out at us for what we do and how we go about it so certainly it won't last forever but we'll enjoy it for as long as we can and hopefully we can keep piling up those trophies enjoying what's great.

[Reporter]

I wanted to ask - every time when Australia is under pressure every time they need a big match player you turn up. It seems like you keep doing it again and again. How obsessed are you with batting and doing it again and again?

[Beth Mooney]

I wouldn't say I'm too obsessed. I probably was a few years ago. I think I've gotten to a bit of a sweet spot with how I prepare and how comfortable I am with my game. Obviously got a great support around me and the coaching staff and people I work with back home too. So yeah I think I just strive off being able to grit and fight and probably go through those tough innings that don't feel as good but perhaps get the teams over the line that I play for so hopefully I've still got a few years left in me and can score a few more runs but at the moment I'm loving it and as I said it's an absolute privilege to put the Australian shirt on every morning when I wake up.

[Reporter]

Winning is never boring. Is there anything boring about winning?

[Beth Mooney]

Oh the monotony of pre-season is getting pretty boring as I get a bit older so yeah we don't have a long one this year which is nice but yeah I think as we saw today the game's never over till it's over so I think that's what keeps bringing us back. We fought really hard against India. It was an exciting contest but we know if we're half a percent off here and there in T20 World Cups you can lose the game - so for us it's never boring. I think we're always in the contest and always in the fight so yeah-

[Reporter]

So Ashley Gardner player of the tournament how special has it been to see Ashley train every day and be part of this winning machine that we can call now?

[Beth Mooney]

Yeah I think she's matured immensely across the last few years just off the field and obviously with her own game she's probably in a sweet spot as well in terms of how comfortable and confident she is with her own game and she's making some match winning contributions very consistently for this Australian team so I've been really impressed with what I've seen from Ash and she's going to be around for a long time so hopefully she can continue to produce those games.

[Reporter]

We're starting to run out of comparisons in terms of cricket teams but in terms of world sport the Australian women's cricket team is up there with several other teams over the last sort of generation whatever you want to call it. Has there been much introspection talking about it being bigger than just cricket or will there be a discussion you know on the playing home or maybe sometime soon when you guys actually sit down and realize how important and how big of a job you've actually done over the last 10 to 15 years?

[Beth Mooney]

Yeah I think those discussions come up just naturally within our group we obviously want to be inspiring young boys and girls not just in Australia but around the world but also helping the global game grow so certainly those conversations sort of happen as we're moving through the different generations within our team but we know that we're in a very privileged position to be able to be up in lights and producing performances like today and getting people talking about women's sport so hopefully this is just the beginning and you know we saw in 2020 when we had 87,000 at the MCG and we saw today how many people came out in full force so I think the opportunities are there for people to watch women's sport and be a part of it as well.

[Reporter]

Beth, let's say in an imaginary world you were hired to advise another team on how to beat Australia what would you say to them?

[Beth Mooney]

It's a good question, just don't turn up - it's too hard, don't bother going.

I'm not too sure I think you know I've played in a lot of teams - I think it probably starts within yourself more so than anything rather than worrying about what other people do, but yeah it's a tough question to answer. I think if I give too much away we might start getting beaten but yeah the good part about the game at the moment is every team's evolving at a rapid pace and the game's evolving at a rapid pace too, so I'm really excited for what's to come and the challenges that are ahead of us.

[Reporter]

I think today was Meg's 100th T20 as captain and she's now won more ICC titles than anyone else in history - how immense has Meg been as a leader of this team and having her back after a break?

[Beth Mooney]

Well I got my coffee buddy back so I'm pretty happy and game day breakfast buddy so I think there's probably - when Meg retires hopefully not for a few more years hope, you're listening Meg but you know when she retires I think she'll go down as one of the greatest leaders not just in cricket but in sport and just generally as well. I think she's got an immense cricket brain. She's cool calm and collected under pressure and she's got empathy as well, she understands how people feel in certain situations because she's been there before and she's experienced a lot as a person and as a leader as a person and as a cricketer so absolutely she'll go down as one of the greatest ever for our team and we're very lucky to have her.

[Reporter]

There are two parts to this question and I'd love for you to address both - I mean on the outside the Australian team looks really invincible you keep turning out these winning performances but obviously your players, you yourself go through rough patches in form. How is it that the management has those hard discussions with you - the reality checks with you can you walk us through that and also given there are so many individual superstars how have you seen your teammates being managed as superstars managing their egos and how has that contributed to your sustained dominance in the women's game?

[Beth Mooney]

I think just you know the support staff just individually and as a group just know the players well. Obviously Motty was around for a long time and created a legacy but I think Shell's come in and just come into that role seamlessly and got the relationships the players and knows how to talk to them I think that's something that gets a little bit missed with coaching is the fact that it's more about people management and not necessarily technical coaching and things like that but someone like Shell coming in to a pretty big role - you know you don't really want to touch something that isn't broken and she's come in and it's been an unbelievable transition and you know that really helps as a player when you're not going through form if you've got that relationship with the coaching staff especially to be able to have - sometimes I avoid her and don't want to talk to her about it and then I finally come calling back and she's pretty good with me.

So yeah I think it comes down to a number of things – culture, that helps us check our egos we're all here for the greater good so to speak.

Culture and the environment that's been created, I think this is probably one of the World Cups that we've enjoyed the most - there was a lot of pressure on us. We weren't willing to admit at the last t20 World Cup given it was at home but I think this World Cup we've thoroughly enjoyed and enjoyed each other's company as well given it was so far away from home.

[Reporter]

What's that ego checking culture like?

[Beth Mooney]

I think it's just making sure we know each other's roles really clearly individually and each other's and understand the situations that we come in into a game and making sure we contribute the way that we're. being asked to. So I think we're in a pretty good spot with that at the moment.

I think Morty, Megan and Rach Haynes as well did a tremendous job making sure that we got on the right path after a couple of bad losses in ICC events a few years ago, and we've kept the core group of players the same - obviously Motty moved on and Rach retired, but as I said Shell, Dan Marsh, Scott Press which have all moved into those roles seamlessly and added their own flair to this team which is probably what we needed at that point. We were very successful when Motty moved on and I think the next challenge for us is something that really excites us and this is step one of that challenge post the comm games and we'll wait and see what's next for this group but at the moment I think it's just really important for us to enjoy - it's been it's been a long slog the last six months so absolutely it'll be a great opportunity for us to enjoy it.