Beth Mooney Equals Virat Kohli, Shahid Afridi and Marlon Samuels' Rare Records In T20 World Cup final
Beth Mooney smashed a fighting fifty against South Africa (Twitter)
Australia's star opener, Beth Mooney, in the final of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023 final became the brand endorser of the saying: When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
Mooney, who batted throughout the innings, smashed an unbeaten 74 off 53 deliveries to help Australia put in a respectable total of 155 runs in the finale of the pinnacle tournament.
With this feat, the southpaw has become the first women's cricketer to score two half-centuries in two T20 World Cup finals. Apart from her, West Indies' two-time T20 World Cup-winning maestro, Marlon Samuels, is the only cricketer to smack two fifties in two T20 World Cup finals.
Mooney scored a match-winning half-century in the semifinal clash against India, becoming the only women cricketer - after her captain Meg Lanning - to amass fifties in knockout fixtures of a T20 World Cup.
Aside from Mooney and Lanning, India's Virat Kohli (in the World T20 2014) and the legendary former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi (in 2009) are the only cricketers to hit 50 or more in the knockout games of a T20 World Cup.
In the ongoing finale, the Victorian scored almost 50 per cent of her side's runs; however, she needed more support from the rest of the batters.
The Australia Women's team will have to run hard yards in the chase to win their sixth T20I title. Meanwhile, the Sune Luus outfit is the first-ever South African lineup to play any ICC event final.
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