Australia women’s captain Sophie Molineux and young all-rounder Lucy Hamilton have been ruled out of the upcoming three-match ODI series against Bangladesh due to injuries. However, both players are expected to recover in time for Australia’s T20I series against New Zealand later this month.
Australia named a combined 14-player squad for the Bangladesh ODIs and New Zealand T20Is on Tuesday. Tahlia McGrath will captain the Australian side in the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh, which will be played in Brisbane from October 9 to 14.
Vice-captain Ashleigh Gardner is expected to take charge of the T20I side if Molineux is unavailable for any of the three matches against New Zealand from October 18 to 22 in Sydney.
Sophie Molineux ruled out of Bangladesh ODIs
National selector Shawn Flegler confirmed that Molineux’s hip injury has not recovered sufficiently for her to feature in the ODI series. The Australian captain picked up the injury after returning from The Hundred and hasn’t recovered as quickly as initially expected.
“She suffered a hip injury just when she got back from the Hundred actually. She went into Cricket Victoria training, and it seemed a fairly innocuous hip injury initially, and unfortunately it just didn’t progress as quickly as we thought it would up until until the weekend, to be honest and then she’s sort of turned the corner,” Flegler was quoted as saying by Cricinfo.
“But I think it’s too tight for the ODI series. She’ll be right for the T20 games. But we’ll keep assessing during that particular series. But I can confirm that she’s not going to play any of the ODIs against Bangladesh, unfortunately.”
Molineux will remain with the squad during the tour, and Australia are hopeful that she will be available for the T20I series against New Zealand.
Ashleigh Gardner set to lead Australia against New Zealand
With Molineux unavailable for the Bangladesh ODIs, McGrath has been handed the captaincy ahead of Gardner. The latter has not captained Australia in any format since being appointed vice-captain.
Gardner’s leadership role had come under scrutiny after her relationship with teammate Georgia Voll became public, although Cricket Australia had endorsed her continuing as vice-captain.
Flegler confirmed that Gardner would take over as captain for the New Zealand T20Is if Molineux is not fit.
“If Ash gets that opportunity, I’m sure she’ll do a great job,” Flegler said.
“I think she’ll be fine with that. The captaincy roles have been endorsed by the board. Soph will be on tour with us anyway, so I can see that leadership group performing really well. They function really well as a group, and I don’t see any issues coming up.”
Lucy Hamilton unavailable for Bangladesh ODIs
Hamilton, meanwhile, suffered a minor quad strain during training and has also been ruled out of the Bangladesh series. Flegler expects the left-arm bowler to recover in time for the T20I series against New Zealand.
Australia will therefore have only 12 players available for the Bangladesh ODIs, with the three matches scheduled to be played within six days at Allan Border Field.
Darcie Brown will miss both series due to a back injury sustained during Australia’s A tour of India. Her availability for the Women’s Big Bash League remains uncertain, with the injury potentially keeping her out for up to 10 weeks.
Grace Harris, who was part of Australia’s T20 World Cup-winning squad, has also been left out of the squad for both series.
Australia Women squad vs Bangladesh and New Zealand
Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton (T20I only), Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux (capt), Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham.
