ICC Women's World Cup 2025: Beth Mooney's Stunning Ton Rescues Australia Against Pakistan

Beth Mooney played one of the best knocks of her career as Australia recovered from a precarious situation to thrash Pakistan by 107 runs in Colombo on Wednesday (October 8).

Asked to bat first, most of Australia's big names failed to fire once again. For the second match in a row in the ongoing World Cup, Australia endured a batting collapse. After being reduced to 128/5 against New Zealand, Australia were reeling at 76/7 in the 22nd over against Pakistan.

Captain Alyssa Healy looked in good touch as she hit three boundaries in quick succession before departing for 20. The likes of Phoebe Litchfield (10), Ellyse Perry (5), Annabel Sutherland (1), Tahlia McGrath (5), and last match's centurion Ashleigh Gardner (1) could not score big either as Australia found themselves in all sorts of trouble.

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For Pakistan, their spinners did the damage. Nashra Sandhu picked up three wickets while Rameen Shamim claimed two wickets. Captain Fatima Sana also took two wickets.

Also Read: "Abhishek Sharma won't even survive 6 balls from me"- Pakistan pacer's open challenge

Pakistan had grabbed the Aussies by the neck

At 78/7, Australia were looking destined to be bowled out for a modest total. However, Beth Mooney had other ideas. While most of her teammates struggled to get going on a tough batting pitch, she delivered one of the best World Cup knocks of all time to rescue her team.

She scored 109 runs as Australia went on to post a challenging total of 221/9 in the allotted 50 overs. She received good support from the likes of Kim Garth and Alana King. Mooney and Garth added 39 runs for the eighth wicket to stop the rot. While Garth scored just 11 runs, she managed to play 47 balls.

It was followed by a decisive 106-run partnership between Mooney and King. The partnership ended on the very last ball of the innings when Mooney was dismissed. King, on the other hand, remained unbeaten on 51 off 49 balls.

The duo upped the ante at the right time to propel their team to a 220-plus total. King, who was batting at 16 off 34 balls at one stage, hit three sixes to score her first ODI fifty off just 46 balls. Australia scored 53 runs in the last four overs to end their innings strongly.

Australia blow away Pakistan with the ball:

While Australia managed to post 221 runs, Pakistan still had the chance to record their first-ever win over them in the 50-over format. However, it did not take Australia long to end those hopes. Garth and Megan Schutt blew away Pakistan's top-order in no time as the Women in Green found themselves reeling at 49/6 inside 13 overs.

They were eventually bowled out for just 114 runs in 36.3 overs. Sidra Amin (35) was the only Pakistan batter to cross the 20-run mark with the bat. For Australia, Garth picked up 3 wickets while Schutt and Sutherland claimed two wickets apiece.

Australia vs Pakistan brief scores

Australia 221-9 (50 overs): Beth Mooney 109 (114), Alana King 51* (49); Nashra Sandhu 3-37

Pakistan 114 (36.3 overs): Sidra Amin 35 (52); Kim Garth 3-14

Result: Australia won by 107 runs