The close bond between Beth Mooney and Shelley Nitschke has fuelled the Aussie opener’s meteoric rise

“I’ve always got different ideas inside my head about what I think and so does she, and she’s not afraid to talk to me about it,” Mooney said of her coach.

Which means that Mooney – the Aussie opener – and Nitschke – the retired all-rounder-turned-coach – are able to discuss anything.

“Even a couple of weeks ago, it must have been after I got my (WBBL) hundred at the WACA (on November 3), she’d seen something in my backlift and she wasn’t sure whether to talk to me about it and I said, yes, tell me,” Mooney said.

Nitschke, as the Australian assistant coach and Perth Scorchers head coach, observes a lot of Mooney’s cricket at all levels.

“Shell’s never afraid to be open and honest about what she thinks. And I absolutely trust her judgment.

“She probably gets sick of chatting about my batting sometimes because I always think I’m going worse than I am, but she reminds me when I’m going well and is not afraid to come and have a conversation with me whether I’ve made 0 or 100.”

The 27-year-old Aussie batter says Nitschke, who played 122 international games from 2004-2011, is one of a number of mentors and friends – many of whom she considers family – who have helped her develop her game to its world-beating best.

Australian head coach Matthew Mott is also one of those.

“He’s had a big impact. He believed I was good enough before I probably did,” Mooney said. Mooney lists a number of friends away from the pitch – including her former Queensland teammate Kirby Short and her parents Brian and Pauline, as well as the Walker family, as being hugely influential.

“When I spend time with those people away from cricket I just feel like another human and not a cricketer and that’s a really nice change for me as well,” she said.

That off-field balance shows in the stats too: player of the tournament in the 2020 T20 World Cup, leading run-scorer in the 2021 WBBL, and her form in September’s India series saw her propelled to the position of the ICC’s No. 1-ranked T20 batter in the world.

And in something of a warning to England, Mooney considers herself a more confident batter than she was in the 2019 Ashes when she finished fourth for most runs across the seven games, with 228 (behind only Alyssa Healy, 266, Meg Lanning, 359, and Ellyse Perry, 378).

“I probably have more confidence playing different shots earlier in my innings than perhaps I did back then, but at the same time, I hope I (have improved) because poor Shelley has thrown about a million balls to me since then,” Mooney said.

For a player that was named 2021’s Leading Woman Cricketer in the World by Wisden this would be a scary thought for England.