Sophie Molineux was announced as Australia Women's newly appointed all-format captain today (January 29), with Lauren Winfield-Hill joining others in expressing surprise at the choice.
Molineux is set to take charge for the first time in Australia's T20I series against India next month. Ash Gardner was also announced by Cricket Australia as the side's new vice-captain, and will share the role with current all-format vice captain, Tahlia McGrath.
The announcement of Molineux as Alyssa Healy's replacement has drawn surprise from pundits and fans alike, with both McGrath and Gardner, as well as Annabel Sutherland and Phoebe Litchfield also having significant captaincy experience among Australia's core squad. Molineux, who captains Melbourne Renegades in the WBBL, has also had an unfortunate run of injuries, which has meant she's only played four matches for Australia since October 2024.
"I was really shocked like a lot of people," said Winfield-Hill, speaking on the Wisden Women's Cricket Weekly podcast. "It's an interesting call from angles you look at it. You look at captains across the years, Meg Lanning or even Belinda Clarke and Charlotte Edwards, these players are playing in your best team every day of the week. Nat Sciver-Brunt, she is absolutely playing. You don't want to be in a position where you're carrying your captain, because that's no good for her and it's no good for the team as well."
Winfield-Hill: 'You don't want too many chefs in the kitchen'
Announcing two vice-captains is a change in structure from Australia's previous officially appointed leadership group. McGrath has led Australia on several occasions over the last couple of years while Healy has been out with injuries. However, McGrath has experienced a significant dip in both international and domestic form over the last year, a factor which likely downgraded her chances of succeeding Healy on a permanent basis.
Molineux returned to the Australia side for the first time in a year for the World Cup in India last October. She played four matches, including Australia's semi-final against India, and took eight wickets in total.
WATCH: Phoebe Litchfield on growing up fast in Australian cricket
"You don't want too many chefs in the kitchen," said Winfield-Hill. "I think the hard bit for a young captain is, you're going to be leading people who are far more experienced than you are. That dynamic is always a challenge. If you're not definitively one of the best players in the team that is a hard dynamic to manage. It's human nature, the awareness that some people can offer a lot more than what you can and where you're sitting in the order of priorities for the team. That will be interesting. They have got so many leaders with quite a lot of leadership experience, it's about how they channel who gets a seat at the table, because they do have so many people to draw upon.
"The other thing is, those players with more experience and more leadership experience, you don't want them to be overpowering Soph and having their opinions weighted more because they've been around for a lot longer and been in a lot more situations."
Australia will begin their series against India with three T20Is, the first of which will take place on February 15. Molineux will take charge for that leg of the series, before Healy takes over for the following ODI series and one off Test match. Her final match for Australia will be the Test match in Perth, which will begin on March 6.
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