'Gades batting stocks take further hit with Capsey called up

Alice Capsey has been handed a last-minute call-up to England's T20I squad in South Africa, ruling her out of the Melbourne Renegades' final two regular season games.

Capsey was originally dropped from England's 20-over squad earlier this month after a lean run at the T20 World Cup.

But the 20-year-old has now been added due to a few minor injury concerns within the English camp and has flown over to South Africa to link up with her national teammates.

It means she will miss Thursday's showdown with the Hurricanes in Hobart, and Saturday's final game against Sydney Thunder, with both games set to have a major say over the make-up of the final four.

While Capsey had not been at her best in her eight innings in red this season, scoring 72 runs with a high score of 33, the loss of her experience and explosive power at No.3 is another blow to a Renegades batting group that has been hit by injury.

Emma de Broughe has been ruled out of the rest of the season with an ankle injury, while skipper Sophie Molineux has missed the last four matches due to a persistent knee complaint.

Opener Courtney Webb was forced to retire hurt in Adelaide last week with a back issue and subsequently missed Friday's Melbourne derby. 

The Renegades who are sitting second on the table but in a tight race for finals, will have their fingers crossed that Molineux and Webb can return to boost their push for the top four.

England spinner Linsey Smith, who signed with the Renegades as a replacement overseas player at the start of the season as coverage for Hayley Matthews, has also departed to join the T20I touring party in South Africa.  

Weber WBBL|10 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Total points PTS
1 Melbourne Renegades Women REN	10	7	3	0	0	0.527	0	14
2 Brisbane Heat Women HEA	10	7	3	0	0	0.384	0	14
3 Sydney Thunder Women THU	10	6	3	0	1	-0.002	0	13
4 Hobart Hurricanes Women HUR	10	5	5	0	0	0.189	0	10
5 Perth Scorchers Women SCO	10	4	5	1	0	-0.171	0	9
6 Sydney Sixers Women SIX	10	3	5	1	1	-0.477	0	8
7 Adelaide Strikers Women STR	10	3	6	0	1	-0.357	0	7
8 Melbourne Stars Women STA	10	2	7	0	1	-0.205	0	5

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

PTS: Total points