Australia opener Beth Mooney generally has sharp instincts and a calm temperament to assess the situation. However, she had perhaps the biggest brain fade moment of 2023 as she got run out in Australia’s second innings of the ongoing Test match against India women while casually returning to her crease before silly point fielder Richa Ghost ran her out.
A sort of dismissal Beth Mooney would want to take learning and quickly move on from.
In the first session of Day 3 at the Wankhede stadium, on Saturday, Beth Mooney and Phoebe Litchfield got Australia off to a good start with their 49-run stand, but a lapse in concentration from the senior batter ended up in her run-out which could very well have been avoided.
To a full delivery from off-spinner Sneh Rana, Beth Mooney tapped the ball in front and straight to Richa Ghosh at silly point. The Indians appealed for an lbw appeal and Mooney, instead of keeping eye on the ball and Richa, watched the umpire.
While the umpire turned down the lbw appeal the batter had moved out of her crease and Richa showed her presence of mind in making a direct hit. Mooney, caught watching the umpire, tried to return to the crease, but was very casual in her approach and was a significant distance outside her crease when Ghost struck with the direct hit.
The Indian players and crowd were jubilant as Mooney started to walk off. In the video, you can see that Mooney didn’t even care about Richa throwing the ball at the stumps; she seems to have been relieved that the umpire turned down the LBW appeal, but completely forgot about the run-out attempt.
Watch: Beth Mooney has a brain fade moment; Richa Ghosh shows her presence of mind
𝙍𝙐𝙉-𝙊𝙐𝙏! 🎯
How about that for game awareness 👌 👌
That was brilliant from Richa Ghosh 🙌 🙌
Follow the Match ▶️ https://t.co/8qTsM8XSpd #TeamIndia | #INDvAUS | @13richaghosh | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/c3O3O249DA
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) December 23, 2023
India, who defeated England earlier this month, are on their way to a historic Test match win over Australia at the Wankhede. At Lunch on Day 3, Australia trail by 124 runs and have 8 wickets in hand.
