Sophie Molineux flew to the Caribbean knowing she probably wouldn’t bowl a ball. A back complaint, still easing its way out of the physio room, ruled out her left-arm spin for the three T20Is against West Indies. Yet Australia still walked away with a 3-0 sweep – and, just as importantly for the coaching staff, with their new captain a little more battle-hardened ahead of June’s T20 World Cup.
“She’s been amazing, on and off the field,” head coach Shelley Nitschke said. “It’s been so important for the team and for her to be here and leading the group. Just having a new leadership group here has been excellent, and really valuable to have them in place in the lead in to a World Cup.
“We know what Sophie can do with the ball, but unfortunately, she’s unable to bowl at the moment, but just being able to be out there, to lead the group, and have a really good contribution with the bat in the final match was important.”
That contribution came late in game three in St Vincent. Sent in at No. 8, Molineux bashed 25 off 12 deliveries – two clean sixes among them – to push Australia beyond 200 after Georgia Voll’s unbeaten hundred. Rain intervened and the visitors won on the DLS sheet, but by then the real work for the tour had already been ticked off: three wins, a settled dressing-room, and more evidence that the 28-year-old skipper can steer a side even when her primary suit is packed away.
From the outside it looked straightforward; inside the camp, the word is “ruthlessness”. “It’s been a big focus for us, winning the big moments and consistently getting back to being ruthless,” Molineux said. “Each game we’ve gotten better with the bat, and in the field as well. I feel like we’ve learned a lot as a group, and I suppose as a staff, that we need to work on, and how we plan the next couple of months leading into the World Cup.
“It was nice to get a bit more experience out there leading that team.”
The tour also allowed new vice-captain Tayla Vlaeminck – back after her own injury carousel – to bed into the on-field huddles, while Voll’s hundred, coming after a lean domestic run, has given the selectors a pleasant headache.
There’s still a bit of rehab left for Molineux before she lets the ball go again. The ODIs start on Friday in St Kitts; team medicos will wait until match-day to decide whether the risk is worth it. Either way, Nitschke’s view is clear enough: captaincy overs matter too, and Molineux just bowled three good ones without letting go of the ball.
