Leg-spinner Georgia Wareham will lead the reigning champions in their first two games of the season
Georgia Wareham will make her senior captaincy debut in Melbourne Renegades’ opening two games of Weber WBBL|11 with Sophie Molineux to miss the start of the season with a minor quad strain.
The Renegades’ medical team has opted to take a cautious approach with Molineux given her workload during Australia’s recent ODI World Cup campaign.
The spin-bowling allrounder has a long history of serious knee and foot injuries, only returning from her latest knee surgery (in January) for Australia’s warm-up fixture with England prior to last month’s World Cup campaign.
The 27-year-old played four of Australia’s seven matches during the tournament and was her side’s third most productive bowler with eight wickets at 24.50.
The reigning WBBL champions’ coach, Simon Helmot, said the decision to hold Molineux back to start the season was made with a bigger picture in mind.
Molineux managed knee soreness during last year’s WBBL|10 campaign, missing four home-and-away matches before returning prior to the finals to lead the club to their first women’s title.
“Sophie’s been tracking well after returning home from India, but we won’t be taking any risks this early in the season,” Helmot said today in a statement.
“She’s our leader, a really important player and we want to make sure she’s fully fit and ready to go for what’s a big campaign ahead.”
Molineux was the club’s leading wicket-taker with 16 in seven matches last season, also contributing 140 runs at a team high strike rate of 155.
Hayley Matthews led the side when Molineux was unavailable last season, but with the West Indies superstar previously ruled out of WBBL|11 due to shoulder surgery, Wareham – the team’s vice-captain – will take the reins to start the season.
The leg-spinner will be supported by experienced West Indies international Deandra Dottin as well as Nicole Faltum, who has previously captained Australia A, Melbourne Stars and Victoria in the Women’s National Cricket Leage 31 times.
“Wareham’s been part of our leadership group for the past three years and she’s a natural leader within the squad and has a great cricket brain,” Helmot added.
“She’ll do an excellent job guiding the team as we kick off our campaign.”
The Renegades kick off their title defence against Brisbane Heat at Allan Border Field on Sunday before returning to Melbourne for their first home match at Junction Oval on Tuesday.
The club is expected to provide an update on Molineux’s availability following Tuesday’s match against Sydney Thunder.
