Australian women’s cricketer Sophie Molineux shrugs off shoulder injury to make debut
With passport in one hand and resistance band in the other, there was no way newly minted Test debutante Sophie Molineux was going to let her Ashes dream die in a UK visa office.
As Sophie Molineux worked through the process of her visa application, she used the three-hour wait to turn the red-tape meeting into a pop-up rehabilitation session complete with shoulder strengthening and joint mobility exercises.
Yes, it looked odd and yes, she provided quite the entertainment to immigration staff and visa applicants.
But with the team leaving the next day for England, the 21-year-old simply had no time to care how she looked to curious strangers as she raced the clock to get her shoulder ready and press her claims for an Ashes call up.
Molineux, one of three debutantes named in this week’s one-off Test in Taunton, was initially left out of the Ashes squad but named in the Australia A touring team in the hope the spinning all-rounder would be fit by the Test.
The Victorian, who had a break out 2018 season, dislocated her shoulder during training in February. But she impressed so much in last week’s tour game, scoring an unbeaten 65 and bagging five wickets that she effectively picked herself for the Test.
“I looked like an absolute ‘wally’ in the visa office but we were flying out the next day and I was going to be sitting on a plane for 24 hours so I thought I’d better not miss any rehab,” Molineux laughed.
“I’ve never had a serious injury before so I’ve been pretty diligent in trying to do all the right things with my rehab … I knew I would be up against it in regards to time but to be playing in my first Test makes it all worth it.”
With the pitch at Taunton expected to turn and turn sharply as it wears, Molineux and Ashleigh Gardner form a three-pronged bowling attack alongside the left-arm orthodox of Jess Jonassen.
“We’re pretty excited to see how the wicket will wear, already it’s doing a bit and our top order have got us in a good position — it was a good toss to win, and Meg (Lanning) doesn’t win a lot so that was handy.”
Australia only needs to draw the Test to retain the Ashes as they currently hold a 6-0 lead in the multi-format points-based series after winning all three ODIs.
England must win the Test, worth four points, and all three T20s, worth two apiece, to reclaim the trophy.
Originally published as Australian women’s cricketer Sophie Molineux shrugs off shoulder injury to make debut