Australia head to ODI World Cup without Sophie Molineux

Australia have announced the squad for the 50-over Women’s World Cup in March this year. Their key player Sophie Molineux won’t be a part of this as she hasn’t recovered yet. Notably, the left-arm spinner had sustained a stress fracture to her right foot while playing in the Women’s Big Bash League and he was ruled out of the ongoing Ashes series as well.

Apart from her, Australia won’t get the service of Georgia Wareham too. She has been ruled out of the Ashes, World Cup and the Commonwealth Games due to an ACL tear. However, Cricket Australia have brought back Amanda-Jade Wellington for the tournament in New Zealand. Wellington, who last played an ODI in 2018, will be the second leg-spinner in the squad alongside the young Alana King. Grace Harris, who bowls offspin and is likely to add ‘versatility with the bat’ has also been added to the squad, after playing in an ODI in 2016 last.

“Sophie Molineux unfortunately misses out due to injury; she was unlikely to be available until the back end of the tournament and with limited match time and having to complete ten days managed isolation, it was a tough call, but we weren’t prepared to take the risk,” National Selector Shawn Flegler said.

“Amanda-Jade provides us with another quality spin option… leg-spin has been a big part of our success in recent years and while Alana King is currently doing that role for us, there’s no reason we couldn’t play both in the same team if conditions and match-ups suit,” Flegler further added.

READ MORE: Tayla Vlaeminck ruled out of Ashes, Women’s World Cup 2022

“Grace didn’t get much of a go in the recent T20s, but she brings the versatility to bat anywhere in the top or middle-order and her bowling could also be a real asset throughout the tournament as we’ve seen orthodox spinners have a lot of success in New Zealand. Among the quicks, Australia will be without Tayla Vlaeminck, who suffered an old foot injury that kept her out of action for better part of 2020 and more importantly, the home T20 World Cup which Australia went on to win,” Shawn again shared.

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“It’s incredibly disappointing for Tayla to miss out as well. We’re really disappointed for her after injuring her foot again and will continue to work with her as she recovers,” Flegler expressed.

Meanwhile, Australia have included Hannah Darlington and Georgia Redmayne as the travelling reserves with the squad for the marquee event, while Elyse Villani, Maitlan Brown, Stella Campbell, Molly Strano and Heather Graham will travel with the team to Melbourne for the final two matches of the Ashes series as stand-by players amid the COVID situation.

“Some seriously good players have missed out, but we’ve been able to include them as standby players should injury or COVID come into play. Hannah and Georgia will travel with the squad and can play a variety of roles if required. Hannah impressed during the India series, while Georgia continues to impress with the bat and importantly offers a back-up ‘keeping option. Our group of stand-by players are able to replace anyone in the squad up to the day we depart Australia on 10 February and so we’ve looked at all skill sets to make sure we can cover anything that might happen between now and then.”

Australia will travel to New Zealand on February 10 and will complete their mandatory isolation period of 10 days before starting their preparations. They will begin their journey against the defending champions England on March 5 in Hamilton.

Australia’s World Cup squad: Meg Lanning (C), Rachael Haynes (VC), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Amanda-Jade Wellington

Travelling reserves: Hannah Darlington, Georgia Redmayne