It’s a curious one. Sophie Molineux, a notional all-rounder, was appointed to lead the Australian women’s team with fewer than a hundred international runs in any format. In her first gig as all-format captain – a T20 in Saint Vincent in March – she was carded to bat at No 8 but sent in Alana King instead with an over to go. In the second match she was due in next but not required, and only in the third did she bat as listed, facing the last 12 balls of an innings. This from a player who couldn’t bowl either, restricted by injury. In the one-day series to follow, she journeyed up the order once for a hit, again didn’t bowl, then missed the two games to follow.
Molineux can, in fact, bat. While her full T20 career has included at least one innings at every spot in the order, most of her domestic innings have been as an opener. She has batted top five in 82 per cent of her domestic games, but zero per cent of her international ones. Players not getting much chance isn’t unusual in Australian teams, with so much all-round strength that good batters regularly get stuck down the order. But it has become a notable part of Molineux’s brief tenure, especially as she opened her team’s T20 World Cup campaign by once again sliding herself down the order.
