Meg Lanning’s Victoria return unclear as Sophie Molineux fit to play
Struggling Victoria will look to “reset” when the WNCL season resumes next week, but Meg Lanning’s absence is set to continue.
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Hopes remain Australian batting great Meg Lanning will play domestic cricket again as Victoria plots an improved second half of the summer under returning captain Sophie Molineux.
Molineux has missed almost two years of cricket after rupturing her ACL last November while bowling for the Melbourne Renegades, days after she had returned from an eight-month lay-off due to a stress fracture in her foot.
The all-rounder assumed the captaincy from Lanning in 2022 and will provide important stability in a Victorian top order which was heavily reliant on Lanning during its winless four games to start the season.
Victorian head of women’s cricket Sharelle McMahon said Molineux was firming for a pair of matches against NSW on December 19 and 21 to resume the WNCL season, but said there were no plans for Lanning to play in those games as her break from cricket continues.
After announcing her international retirement last month, the 31-year-old began the WBBL campaign with the Melbourne Stars as captain but withdrew from the final three games due to personal reasons.
“Meg’s thinking about how she’ll come back into training and certainly considering those things, which is great,” McMahon said.
“We’ll support her in what that looks like, but from our perspective and from our medical team’s perspective, she remains unavailable as she takes some time away from competitive cricket.
“There’s just no timeline on that … we’re just trying to be respectful to her and make sure she has all the support in place as she continues to work through that. We’ll just wait and see what it looks like.”
McMahon, an Australian netball legend, said Molineux was batting and bowling unrestricted in the nets as speedster Tayla Vlaeminck also approached a return.
One of the world’s fastest bowlers, Vlaeminck overcame a second serious foot injury to play four games for Australia A in England during winter but dislocated her non-bowling shoulder in a freak incident while bowling, which required surgery.
“Touch wood, everything continuing well, Soph will be available for selection for these matches later on in December,” McMahon said.
“That’s awesome for the squad to have her back in the mix, not just for her cricket but for her leadership and captaincy as well.
“Tayla is bowling as well and she is also progressing really well, but her return to play is certainly looking forward into the New Year.
“We don’t have any specific dates for her but we’re hopeful she’ll start getting some cricket in before the end of the season.”
McMahon said Victoria would “take our time” searching for a new coach after parting ways with Jarrad Loughman, with interim mentor Dulip Samaweera to continue on until the end of the season.
Originally published as Meg Lanning’s Victoria return unclear as Sophie Molineux fit to play
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