Australia unveils 15-player squad for Women’s Ashes

There were a couple of “pretty rough” omissions from Australia’s 15-player Ashes squad that will take on England this summer.

South Australian leg-spinner Amanda-Jade Wellington and New South Wales pace bowler Stella Campbell were the most surprising omissions from Australia’s 15-player Ashes squad that was announced on Wednesday morning.

Cricket Australia has unveiled its squad for the upcoming multi-format series against England, which gets underway with a T20 international at Adelaide Oval on Thursday, January 20.

Vice-captain Rachael Haynes and star quick Megan Schutt return to the national side after missing the India series earlier this summer due to injury and parental leave.

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Georgia Redmayne, Maitlan Brown, Molly Strano and Campbell were pushed out of the squad, which has been reduced from the India series.

Australian spinners Georgia Wareham and Sophie Molineux are both unavailable for the Ashes due to injury woes, leaving the door open for fresh face to join the national squad.

Uncapped leg-spinner Alana King will partner veteran tweaker Jess Jonassen in the Ashes after beating Wellington for the vacant spot.

Wellington was the leading wicket-taker of the 2021/22 Women’s Big Bash League, snaring 22 scalps in 16 matches at 15.72.

The 24-year-old turned heads in this summer’s finals series by claiming 5/8 against the Melbourne Renegades at Adelaide Oval — the best bowling figures in WBBL history.

Wellington also impressed during last year’s The Hundred tournament, where she took 14 wickets at 11.50 for the Southern Brave.

But despite a scintillating 12 months with the ball, Wellington is still considered Australia’s fifth-choice spinner in the eyes of national selectors.

Wellington represented Australia in the previous home Ashes series, making her Test debut at the North Sydney Oval in November 2017.

Amanda-Jade Wellington of the Adelaide Strikers. Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images

ABC journalist Brittany Carter tweeted: “I’m baffled. What more does Amanda-Jade Wellington have to do to get her spot back in the Australian team?”

AAP reporter Scott Bailey posted: “Pretty rough call on Amanda-Jade Wellington missing out on an Ashes spot. Test experience, matured a lot since her last game for Australia and had and had a very good WBBL after Georgia Wareham went down.”

King has taken 70 wickets at 23.71 since making her WBBL debut in 2015, boasting a strike rate of 20.7 in the T20 tournament.

Meanwhile, the return of Schutt means teenage speedster Campbell has been squeezed out of the Australian squad, despite taking career-best figures of 7/25 in a WNCL match against the ACT Meteors last week. It was Breakers’ best bowling performance in WNCL history.

Australian 2021/22 Ashes squad

Darcie Brown

Nicola Carey

Hannah Darlington

Ashleigh Gardner

Rachael Haynes

Alyssa Healy

Jess Jonassen

Alana King

Meg Lanning

Tahlia McGrath

Beth Mooney

Ellyse Perry

Megan Schutt

Annabel Sutherland

Tayla Vlaeminck

Alana King has represented the Melbourne Stars and Perth Scorchers in the WBBL.

“This was a tough selection process with so many players coming off strong WBBL tournaments, but we’re confident we’ve selected a balanced, all-round squad with players who can perform across all three formats,” national selector Shawn Flegler said.

“It’s great to have Rachael Haynes and Megan Schutt back in the side having missed the India series due to personal reasons as well as Jess who’s recovered from a lower-leg injury; the experience those three bring to the side is invaluable during a series like the Ashes.

“The loss of Georgia Wareham to injury has presented Alana King with a great opportunity to show what she can do at this level and having improved in all facets of her game over the last few seasons, she’s well placed to play an important role in the series.

“As expected, Sophie Molineux will miss this series due to the stress fracture in her right foot that she suffered at the back end of the WBBL, but we’ll continue to monitor her in the lead up to the World Cup with the aim that’s she’s available for that tournament.”

Cricket Australia also announced a 15-player Australia A squad that will take on England A in three T20s and three 50-over fixtures later this summer.

Brown, Campbell, Redmayne, Wellington and Strano all feature in the Australia A line-up, while former international stars Erin Burns, Grace Harris, Heather Graham and Elyse Villani have also been included.

Australia A squad

Maitlan Brown

Erin Burns

Stella Campbell

Nicole Faltum

Tess Flintoff

Heather Graham

Grace Harris

Phoebe Litchfield

Katie Mack

Georgia Redmayne

Courtney Sippel

Molly Strano

Elyse Villani

Georgia Voll

Amanda-Jade Wellington

Originally published as Australia unveils 15-player squad for Women’s Ashes