Molineux calls on Australia to play with freedom to win title back

Sophie Molineux has challenged her Australia team-mates to use their lack of world silverware as a springboard to play freely at the T20 World Cup.

“All the pressure is on New Zealand as reigning champions,” Australia co-vice-captain Ash Gardner said last week to ESPNcricinfo.

“We’ll be looking forward to showing the progress we’ve made,” Molineux said as the 12 team captains gathered on London’s Waterloo Bridge for the ICC’s official event launch.If we can tap into that, I think that can free us up," Molineux said of entering the tournament with no title to defend for the first time since 2018. "The last couple of World Cups, we've learned a lot from that and been able to put some things in place.

"I think we have really come a long way as a team the last few months and even before that. “So I’m really excited and I think the girls are really hungry to get out there and be able to do that.” “I can’t think of a better arena to be able to do that at a World Cup in the big moments that are coming in the next few weeks.

Molineux was named as Alyssa Healy's successor after she retired at the start of this year. She only batted in Australia’s tour of the Caribbean in March after back pain struck her down during the home series against India and a stress reaction was found.

But with careful management she has been "ready and firing to go" after bowling in both of Australia's completed warm-up games so far against South Africa at Arundel, where she took 2-17 and 1-16. And she is keen to make her mark as a cool, caring captain who can get the most out of the enviable talent, knowledge and skill in her team to "go to another level".“I want to be calm as a person and I want to be calm as a leader.

“I care a lot about this team and the people in it, first and foremost that the people in the environment feel like they can be themselves. That's been a big thing coming in.We’ve got all the ingredients there. We have the stage now and the opportunity to show that in the coming weeks. The girls are really hungry to do that. I'm very excited to see what this group can do.

Australia's women have only played once at Old Trafford, a draw in a Test with England in 1976, so they will be looking to the vast experience of their squad who have played a lot of English domestic cricket and the Hundred for information on conditions.“We’ve had a little chinwag about this,” Molineux said. we’ve got a lot of experience amongst our squads over here in England. "Players like Grace Harris have spent a lot of time out here and a lot of runs in England as well. We'll definitely have to lean into that and make sure we utilize all that knowledge."

Australia have two more warm-up games to play against England on Monday and the West Indies on Wednesday both in Cardiff. They will be looking to field sides closer to the XI that will walk out into the middle in Manchester, than the earlier games with South Africa, which were more about trying out combinations through the middle order and exposing a range of players to English conditions.

Molineux is a lock as captain and match-winner allrounder Gardner and legspinners Georgia Wareham and Alana King will be a challenge to manage the depth of Australia’s spin stocks, a nice one to face. Molineux has been reasonably pleased with her seamers in the practice games so far.“It was great to see Lucy Hamilton get involved in the action in Arundel and bowl really well,” said Molineux.

""Just nice to know that Annabel Sutherland and Ellyse Perry are bowling in the powerplay, so that's just nice to know they can do that.We got our leggies bowling… "Kingy bowled really well in the West Indies and took a lot of wickets but Wolf has played an amazing role in both the attacking and defensive bowling roles. That's going to be hard. It's going to be tight for spots.

That’s all you want as a captain, that's all you want as a coach, to be able to have those hard conversations about who’s getting picked each game."