What’s the burden of carrying a legacy as heavy as the success of the Australian women’s cricket team?
When Sophie Molineux stood for toss on the final day, if the magnitude of the occasion didn’t leave room for distractions, there would have been enough reason for her to look at the fellow captain in blue and red with envy; one who had steered her team to the final from a point where there was very little that could get worse for the team. It was a refresh button that had to be pushed. The England team did that, and marched their way to the final of the 2026 T20 World Cup unbeaten. For Nat Sciver-Brunt, even without the trophy, the last one and a half-year journey has been a victory of a different sort as a captain.
Molineux had also led her side to the final of the same tournament, to the same place, with the same results – W.W.W.W.W.W. But that was no validation for the team, or for her as captain – even though when she took over, it was the longest Australia had been without a world championship since 2018.
Almost on a weekly basis, directly or indirectly, questions out of curiosity more than suspicion have sprung over whether Molineux really deserved that position, and what is it that she really brought to the table to lead a side which hasn’t lost two ODIs in a row for more than 10 years, and only twice have they lost successive T20Is in a row since Molineux made her international debut.
These questions may have not even been directed at her; but to her teammates, almost to seek validation if they were also surprised by the decision.
The answers repeatedly returned in negative.
For a player whose career has been riddled with injuries, and one who didn’t always necessarily have her place locked-in in the XI, who did not stand high in the pecking order for this leadership role, her appointment as captain of the most dominant side ever in the history of international cricket was doubted for being out of order.
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Last December, when Molineux received a phone call from national selector Shawn Flegler, asking her to enter the application process for Australia’s next captain, she didn’t give herself a chance. Reasons could have been plenty.
From the outside, it was obvious – she had spent a good part of her near-eight-year international career battling injuries and undergoing rehabs, managing to feature in just 58 international games. But that phone call was to turn her thoughts around.
‘”That [the phone call] probably sparked something in me that, why not give it a crack and see how far I get in,” she had said. She made it past the other contenders for the role – Ashleigh Gardner and Tahlia McGrath, both of whom were handed vice-captaincy.
Australia went left-field. Maybe there was also an element of luck to Molineux’s appointment. McGrath, who was being honed for that position for the last few years, witnessed a dip in her form, and her place in the team itself was likely to be uncertain.
That the selection would’ve surprised those on the outside is not in denial, but many have also conceded that within the team, they weren’t taken aback by the appointment. They certainly knew something better about a player who has captained at various levels – starting from age-group cricket, to becoming the youngest captain of Melbourne Renegades at 21 and then captaining a Victoria side, which included Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry, in WNCL at 22.
Flegler had admitted that the decision wasn’t taken in haste or over one meeting, but a series of conversations over time. But concerns were multifold. Did she always, with certainty, command for herself a place in the XI in that star-studded Australian line-up?
Molineux had already kickstarted her captaincy career with a home series loss against India. But more significant was the issue of her recurring injuries. In March 2026, captaining in her first full multi-format series against West Indies, she had to sit out for a few games and not bowl in a few to manage back soreness, which had ruled her out of the last two matches of the home series against India.
Soon after her first full series as captain, the national selector emphasised that her role would be reassessed if injury concerns continue. The mantle was handed over to her but with a conditional text.
“When I took over, I was a bit messy at the start, to be fair,” Molineux admitted of her captaincy journey, which even after the World Cup win is barely half-a-year-old. “Captaining a couple of games and getting injured, shock. And I suppose there were a few doubts internally, there were a few doubts externally… when I did miss those games at the start of the summer after just being announced captain, it probably made me feel like it might not work out.”
But there’s one quality of Molineux that many had noticed and spoken of, the relationships she forges with her teammates outside the field. Flegler is one among those, who also cited her experience and success. But the biggest validation came from the veteran Ellyse Perry, who has shared dressing rooms with Molineux across various teams at state, national and franchise level.
“Soph brings a very unique style, she’s such a people person. She makes everyone laugh. She knows when to have fun, when to be serious. She just gives people a huge amount of belief and confidence in themselves. She makes sure that they’re heard all the time and valued for their contribution to the group.
“And I hope that kind of comes across in the way that we’re playing because it’s been so much fun this tournament,” Perry had said ahead of the semifinal. “Doesn’t guarantee you anything. But when you’re playing with that kind of enjoyment, it creates an opportunity for a team to do some really good things.”
And it showed. The first big test was the world cup, and yet again Australia proved they were the best, outbatting, outbowling, outfielding, and outplanning every other team in the competition – playing in a league far above the rest. And when the final came, as Nat Sciver-Brunt suggested, the Australians just knew their drill while the English were grappling with the occasion, the pitch and everything else.
Would any of it have changed if Molineux was not to lead the side? Probably not.
The absence of two trophies can create an illusion that the change in leadership had its impact on the Australian team after Lanning stepped away. But much like it was earlier, defeats remained anomalies, even if it came at crucial stages of the World Cup matches.
The current Australian is a great team for sure, in fact, undoubtably the greatest. And in search of their great captain for this group, in Molineux they have placed that trust to take them forward in their conquest to heights that are hard to fathom, despite all the periphery concerns regarding her availability.
In doing so, they have handed over Molineux a legacy where World Cup wins are expected. Not one, two or three; an expectation to churn it out like a machine every edition. That burden is unique, and for as good a team as she has at her disposal, it’s not something that everyone might be able to take, unless they have a support cast ready.
But that’s also a strength of Molineux the leader, of being viewed as a people’s person. With a World Cup to soothe doubts, she now has a different take on the captaincy job. “It’s very enjoyable,” she says. “I’ve got the fun job, I suppose, just to sit back and watch it all.”
But there’s more to it that she adds, unintentionally always speaking of the friendships in the group. “I feel incredibly grateful playing cricket for a living with some of my best mates… Beyond cricket, they’re all just really good people that want the best for each other. And that’s, I suppose, the beauty of this team.
“When you’ve got so much skill in there, the danger is that you can probably become a bit insular and chase runs and wickets and whatever. There is none of that in this team. This team wants to be the best we can be. And the way we played this tournament in every single game reflected that.”