Molineux ruled out of the women’s Ashes due to injury as skipper Alyssa Healy faces uncertainty over keeping role.
Molineux has been ruled out of the multiformat Ashes series due to a knee injury that will require surgery.
Because of her persistent knee issue, captain Alyssa Healy is still uncertain if she will keep wicket.
Left-arm spinner Molineux battled a knee injury during the WBBL. She led the Melbourne Renegades to their first championship, and the issue resurfaced following the ODI series against India. Molineux will now have to spend more time on the sidelines after being excluded from the most recent tour to New Zealand.
“Sophie Molineux will undergo left knee surgery next month. Following that we will provide further updates on an anticipated return date.” Team physiotherapist Kate Beerworth said.
Whether Healy can hold onto wicket after giving the gloves to Beth Mooney in New Zealand will be one of the main questions Australia must address before the Ashes. In what she described as a decent test for her knee. Healy has been named in the Governor-General’s XI side for a 50-over warm-up match against England on January 9 at North Sydney Oval.
“That’ll be a great opportunity for me to take the gloves for a little bit and see how everything’s progressing,” Healy told reporters at the MCG. “I can’t really give you any more information than that. It’s kind of play it by ear at the moment to see how everything pulls up.
“But I did thoroughly enjoy running around the field in New Zealand. So if that’s the option and is less disruptive to our side, then that could be the way moving forward. But the aim is to take the gloves and hopefully I can do that.
“Having an angry joint in there and flaring that up. Knowing the really tight schedule with the Ashes as well. Probably managing that and not wanting to blow it up too much that it’s going to affect my ability to play at all. So that’ll be the real test, I think, in the next 10 days. Moving into the series as to how that pulls up. How it responds to keeping again, and we’ll just assess as we go.”