Molineux seamlessly returns to Australia's squad

Sophie Molineux, the talented allrounder from Australia was picked in the T20 World Cup squad starting February 21 after she returned to competitive cricket in the Women's National Cricket League representing Victoria. She immediately made an impact by picking up two wickets and scoring 47 runs.

Matthew Mott, Australia's head coach, believes Molineux has found her rhythm and will be a key component for Australia in the T20 World Cup 2020.

"It's always a delicate one - I don't think there's always an exact right time," Mott said on Thursday (January 16). "I've had a lot of conversations with Sophie over the last month or so about when she'd re-integrate back into the group."

"But there's no guarantees and it's like any injury that you come back from - there's always a little bit of trepidation about how you go and we're just treating it like that."

Molineux took a break from the game to manage her mental health during the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) while playing for Melbourne Renegades. She made her international debut in 2018 and had a stellar run. A lot was expected of her in 2019 but she missed most of it due to a shoulder dislocation.

Molineux returned with the bang in the WNCL and now looks certain to lead the spin bowling department alongside Jess Jonassen.

"(That was) very important, like any player coming back from time out of the game, you want to gain confidence and she came back and did well straight away," Mott said.

"But more importantly, I think she felt like she wanted to play cricket and was back in love with the game."

"That’s what we’ve been trying to do to support that, to make sure she’s got an environment where she’s comfortable and safe and wants to play some good cricket around people she really enjoys the company of."

Besides Molineux Australia have also included Erin Burns and Tayla Vlaeminck in the squad who are recovering from knee injuries. Burns had a bone fragment removed from her knee which sees her miss a few WNCL games. On the other hand, Vlaeminck is ahead of the recovery schedule and is well on track to be fit ahead of the tri-series involving England and India.

"Tayla is probably ahead of schedule and we’re just trying to hold her back ahead of the next big thing, but Kate, our physio, is very happy with where she’s at," Mott said.

"Erin that’s an interesting one, I actually saw a piece of bone that came out. That wasn’t very pretty, but she’s tough, she’s so resilient, she’s dealt with sore knees for most of her career so once she gets the all-clear she’ll be fine."