WBBL: Perth Scorchers pair Katie Mack and Beth Mooney waiting to ‘pop off’ together in crucial home match

Perth Scorchers’ new top-order combination just can’t get enough of batting together. And they are taking on growing importance in the club’s push to return to the WBBL finals. Katie Mack and Beth Mooney are now the star attraction of the Scorchers’ Ashes Afterparty clash with Adelaide Strikers — Mack’s old side — at the WACA Ground on Saturday night. It has become a crucial game of cricket for the Scorchers after Wednesday night’s defeat to Sydney Thunder on the road. “We are under no illusion to the fact we have got to start winning some games pretty consistently now to press for finals,” Mooney said. “That’s the nature of T20 cricket, if you’re a little bit off you can get got, which is what happened against the Thunder. We’ll look at ways to rectify that in some meetings and some training. “We know we have got the talent and the depth in the line-up to really press for that trophy.” Mooney has scored 156 runs from five knocks in the WBBL and is top of the Scorchers’ charts. Mack is just behind her with 153. Mack sliding in to the top of the order means captain Sophie Devine can bat through the middle. “She’s been great. She’s a real thinker of the game, she asks good questions,” Mooney said of her new partner. “She obviously runs really well between the wickets, she certainly keeps my hamstrings warm that’s for sure. She’s been an amazing player over a number of years so to be able to lure her over here has been great for the Scorchers.” Mack said they were just waiting for them both to go off in the same game. “It’s obviously lovely having someone so experienced like Beth down the other end and having that left-hander it sort of seems like one of us will get a few bad balls which is ideal,” she said. “We’re just waiting for that day when we both pop off together.” The Scorchers have named an unchanged line-up for the clash against the Strikers, which is expecting to be played in front of a bumper crowd after the second day of the Ashes Test across the river at Optus Stadium.