Sydney: Cricket Australia on Sunday announced Australia women's squad for a one-off Test match against South Africa women's, commencing on February 15 at the Western Australia Cricket Association (WACA) Ground. Ace spinner Sophie Molineux has made her comeback into Australia's test setup after a prolonged gap of three years.
Molineux has been named in the Australia squad for the first time since 2021. The Victoria allrounder is the sole inclusion to the 14-member squad currently taking on the Proteas in the three-game ODI series.
After the historic first defeat on spin-friendly pitches against India in January, CA have tried to strengthen their spin bowling department with the inclusion of the Victoria all-rounder. However, with Ashleigh Gardner being the first-choice spinner and considering the pitches down under, there is less possibility that she might get a chance to play her first international game since the third T20I against India in October 2021.
On Saturday, Shawn Flegler, Cricket Australia's head of performance and national selector announced the squad and said, "It was a nice call to make, she (Sophie Molineux) has been through a lot in the last couple of years. She was pretty emotional, she’s put a lot of hard work in over the last 12 months but even the previous 12 months as well – she’s missed out on some big tournaments for us."
"She has come back and played really well…has probably surprised herself a little bit with how well she’s gone. She’s an all-format player, was an all-format player before she got injured and she’s come back in great nick," he added.
The left-arm spinner was ruled out of the 2022 Ashes and the 2022 ODI World Cup in New Zealand due to a stress fracture in her foot, and subsequently lost her national contract. The 26-year-old started playing cricket for Victoria in the domestic one-day competition in December 2023. She immediately made an impact on the game, smashing 62 and taking a six-wicket haul in her second game on her return.
She is currently the highest wicket-taker of the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) with 17 wickets at 14.47 in six matches, and has hit 167 runs in six innings, and hit a half-century when she captained the Governor-General’s XI to victory over South Africa last month.
Australia Women's Test squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham
