Sophie Molineux’s participation in Australia’s upcoming tour of the West Indies is now in question after the allrounder was ruled out of the rest of the ongoing multi-format series against India due to back soreness.
Molineux, who led Australia during the T20I leg, had been set to captain the side across formats in the Caribbean for the first time. However, ahead of the second ODI against India in Hobart, Cricket Australia confirmed she would take no further part in the series after experiencing lower back pain following the opening ODI in Brisbane.
Australia are scheduled to travel to the West Indies in mid-March, and national selector Shawn Flegler expressed optimism about her chances of recovering in time.
“Sophie’s developed a bit of lower back pain over the last few days,” Flegler told Channel 7. “So unfortunately that means she’s going to miss the rest of the series and we’ll look towards her being available for the West Indies series coming up. So we don’t want to take any risks with the T20 World Cup coming up.
“She’s still right to bat, still right to run, but it’s just the bowling that she’s got a little bit of pain at the moment … we’ll get her scanned and then we’ll have to offload her for a little while and that’s why we don’t want to take any chances with the next few matches coming up.”
Captaincy implications
Should Molineux also miss the West Indies assignment, joint vice-captains Ashleigh Gardner and Tahlia McGrath are the leading candidates to step in. McGrath did not feature in the T20I series against India but was appointed vice-captain for the second ODI after Molineux’s withdrawal.
With Alyssa Healy approaching the closing phase of her career, Molineux had recently been elevated to vice-captain for the ODI segment and the standalone Test against India, following her first stint in charge during the T20I series.
Her latest setback continues a run of injury frustrations, including a knee problem that kept her out for much of last year. In light of those challenges, her elevation as a potential all-format successor to Healy had been viewed as an unexpected move.
“The Sophie Molineux news today was a bit of a shock for everyone and a disappointing one for her,” Healy said on Fox Cricket.
Growing injury concerns for Australia
Molineux’s absence adds to Australia’s injury concerns. Elysse Perry and Kim Garth have both been ruled out of the ODI series due to quad strains, while their availability for the WACA Test beginning on March 6 remains unclear.
