Molineux brushes off 'stinker' in style

After a self-confessed "stinker" of a return from injury, Melbourne Renegades allrounder Sophie Molineux is confident she’s on the right track in Rebel WBBL|05.

Molineux missed Australia’s tour of the West Indies in September and their home series against Sri Lanka earlier this month as she continued to strengthen the shoulder she had reconstructed earlier this year, making her return to the playing field in Adelaide last weekend.

Her first match back yielded a score of 10 and bowling figures of 0-15 from three overs, before a day to forget on Sunday when her four overs went for 44 runs and she made a golden duck.

But the left-arm spinning allrounder bounced back in style against the Scorchers at Junction Oval on Wednesday, claiming player-of-the-match honours after scoring a 20-ball 24 and collecting 1-20 from her four-over spell.

"I had a couple of stinkers, but it’s just nice to be out playing cricket, to be honest," Molineux said.

"I was a bit nervous coming into (the season), it’s never nice being in the rehab room watching everyone else playing cricket.

"This is my favourite time of the year, so to be out here is really cool and playing in Melbourne with my family and friends here."

Molineux rode her luck with the bat on Wednesday, dropped early before another edge flew to the boundary, but her efforts – combined with handy inputs from Danni Wyatt (31), Tammy Beaumont (25), Jess Duffin (17) and Josie Dooley (17) – were enough to see the Renegades seal victory with five balls to spare.

"I might go buy a lotto ticket," Molineux joked after play. "But that’s T20 cricket, you have to go hard and some days it works and some days it doesn’t.

"It’s not too bad, I feel like I should be hitting the ball along the ground a little more and take my time a little bit maybe, but the nature of T20 cricket is that hindsight is a pretty big thing and when you’re in the moment, you have to go with your instincts.

"Hopefully I can find the middle a little bit more, but we’re lucky having Tammy and Danni coming in, who are class cricketers and batting beautifully, and Jess (Duffin) and Josie (Dooley) have won games for us already, so we’ve got a deep batting order."

The Renegades have successfully chased down targets in their last two matches, with Molineux singing the praises of new ‘finisher’ Dooley.

The 19-year-old wicketkeeper-batter moved from the Brisbane Heat to the Renegades this season and has yet to be dismissed after three innings in red, striking 20no, 9no and 17no, and icing wins in the last two matches with boundaries.

"For Dools at the end there to play with freedom, she’s only 19, believe it or not," Molineux said.

"For her to go out and be as calm as she did and see us home was cool."

After three matches in five days, the Renegades barely have time to catch their breath before flying to Sydney on Friday ahead of a clash with the Sydney Thunder in Blacktown on Saturday night.

It’s a hectic start to WBBL|05, but one Molineux says the squad is prepared for.

"We can’t think about that too much, we’ve had a couple of good hit outs now," she said.

"Tomorrow we’ll come back here and train hard, Friday we travel and then we’re at it again Saturday.

"Four games in seven days won’t worry us at all."