How Molineux, Royal Challengers’ spin ace, repaid Smriti’s faith
After multiple injuries pushed her to the sidelines for over two years, the Australian leftarm offspinner makes a strong case for a return to the squad for the T20 World Cup in September with her titlewinning performance for RCB in the WPL
hink of yourself as someone putting a franchise cricket team together. Would you pick a player who last featured in a T20I in 2021? More so if you’re an established club in the world of franchise cricket looking for greener pastures after an underwhelming showing in the first season of the biggest women’s T20 tournament in the world? Royal Challengers Bangalore did just that.
After a disappointing first rodeo in the Women’s Premier League, the RCB management sat captain Smriti
Mandhana down and said, “This is your team, build it the way you want.” That conversation also involved asking Smriti if she had any recommendations for RCB’s next coach. The first name that came to her mind was Luke Williams, the assistant coach at Southern Brave in The Hundred, which she had been part of.
“During The Hundred is where Luke and I started jotting down a few names and tracking a few players. Sophie Molineux was one of them,” Smriti told The Hindu after RCB’s maiden WPL title triumph. “She was injured so we had to track her. Luke kept close tabs on the Australian system and we went through with her.”
TEver the fighter
If you’re an Indian women’s cricket fan, you might remember Molineux copping a bouncing ball to the face during the third ODI against India at Mackay in 2021. She cut her lip but came back with her mouth taped to bowl the death overs, making the visitors work for their twowicket win in the final over. That victory halted Australia’s world record 26match unbeaten streak but Molineux’s resilience became the talking point of the day.
Her tryst with injuries continued as she sustained a stress fracture to her right foot at the end of the same year. That was curtains for her participation in the Women’s National Cricket League (Australia’s domestic 50over tournament) and the Ashes.
She also missed the 2022 Women’s World Cup in New Zealand, which Australia won for the seventh time, and the Commonwealth Games where Australia defeated India.
The eightmonthlong layoff eventually cost her the Australian national contract. The southpaw returned to cricket in The Hundred, where she took five wickets and scored 65 runs in five games.
During the Women’s Big Bash League that year, Molineux — leading Melbourne Renegades — ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament which needed mandatory surgery and ruled her out of competitive cricket for 12 months. Consequently, she missed Australia’s triumphant 2023 T20 World Cup campaign.
Molineux made a return to cricket in the Australian domestic circuit in December 2023, captaining Victoria in the WNCL. She hit the ground running, scoring 62 runs and taking six wickets in only her second game. After leading the wickettakers’ chart for much of the tournament, she finished fourth in the list with 17 scalps in six matches; she also contributed 167 runs in six innings.
The Bairnsdaleborn allrounder then made it to the Governor General’s XI which beat South Africa ahead of the multiformat series Down Under. She was named PlayeroftheMatch for her 41ball 59 and one wicket. Molineux featured in the oneoff Test against South Africa where she went wicketless but was economical. She has now taken Jess Jonassen’s place in Australia’s squad for the tour of Bangladesh ahead of the Women’s T20 World Cup to be held in the Asian country later this year.
“I’ve always loved the game. I used to play three games a weekend back home and just loved it. When you get caught up in doing it dayindayout as a job, you don’t stop and then you probably don’t take it for granted when it’s not there,” she had said when she made her comeback in Australian colours.
“We’ve been following her for a very long time. I remember her bowling against us in the oneday series, which we nearly won, when we went to Australia. She was the difference between the Australian team and the Indian squad, and the way she bowled in the last fourfive overs and it always stuck with me somehow — her performance,” Smriti said after the WPL triumph.
“The last two years, with a few injuries, have been really tough on her. She went through ACL and I can feel that pain (having gone through it myself )... so really happy for her,” she added.
WPL run
Coming into WPL Season 2, RCB had to deal with the loss of England captain Heather Knight who chose to prioritise national duty for the tour of New Zealand in the runup to the World Cup. That opened the door for Molineux to repay the faith Smriti and Williams had shown in her.
In the first game, she left UP Warriorz skipper Alyssa Healy flummoxed with a ripper that straightened instead of spinning in. RCB won that game by two runs.
Facing Gujarat Giants next, Molineux claimed three scalps — Veda Krishnamurthy, Kathryn Bryce and Sneh Rana — in RCB’s eightwicket win. She went wicketless in RCB’s 25run loss to Delhi Capitals and sevenwicket loss to Mumbai Indians. Molineux had Healy’s number again in the reverse fixture with another peach of a delivery that appeared to turn well past legstump but straightened. Richa Ghosh did the rest behind the stumps, leaving Healy short of her crease. The leftarmer also got rid of Poonam Khemnar as RCB scripted a 23run win.
Molineux dismissed D. Hemalatha, but was expensive in RCB’s 19run loss to Gujarat Giants.
The crunch game against Delhi Capitals saw the Bengaluru outfit open the batting with the allleft combo of Molineux and Smriti. It was a call that left many puzzled as it exposed the Indian to her offspin weakness early on. Though Smriti fell early, Molineux managed a 30ball 33 in a chase that RCB agonisingly fell short by a solitary run. That loss put its playoff chances in danger. Molineux was expensive, going for more than 11 runs an over in that game, with questions emerging about her spot in the lineup.
However, Ellyse Perry helped RCB seal its place in the Eliminator with an allround show against Mumbai Indians. Molineux retained her place in the knockout fixture against the same opponent, giving away just 16 runs in her four overs and taking a wicket.
It was in the final that Molineux truly came into her own. Taking on a dominant Delhi Capitals, RCB’s spin trio of Shreyanka Patil, Molineux and Asha Sobhana proved to be a formidable spin web that pulled Meg Lanning & Co. into its trap. It was a spellbinding over by Molineux that turned the game on its head.
DC was 64/0 at the end of the seventh over. Molineux, who had conceded 10 runs in her first over in the PowerPlay, rocked Capitals with three strikes in a single over, removing Shafali Verma with a tossed up delivery which the opener struck straight to midwicket.
She then took out Jemimah Rodrigues and Alice Capsey off consecutive deliveries, both heading in between the middle and offstump. She went on to concede just 20 runs in the game and also pulled off a remarkable run out to send Arundhati Reddy back to the hut. Her performance powered RCB to its maiden title and she deservingly won the Playerofthefinal honour.
“To be picked by RCB after not playing cricket for a while... it is an incredible competition and it is only going to go from strength to strength. Proud to be a part of it and this one (the POTM award) is special,” Molineux said. She had repaid the faith when it mattered the most.
Soph, the leader
During India’s multiformat series against Australia late last year, Perry had walked up to her RCB teammate Shreyanka Patil with a message about her prospective