Molineux out of India series with back soreness, West Indies tour in doubt

Sophie Molineux is in doubt to be fit for Australia's upcoming tour of the West Indies, where she was set to take charge of the captaincy across formats for the first time.

In news that rocked Australia ahead of the second ODI against India in Hobart, Molineux was ruled out of the remainder of the multi-format series after experiencing lower back pain following the opening ODI in Brisbane.

Australia's squad is set to depart for the Caribbean in mid-March and national selector Shawn Flegler remained hopeful Molineux would be available.

"Sophie's developed a bit of lower back pain over the last few days," Flegler told Channel 7. "So unfortunately that means she's going to miss the rest of the series and we'll look towards her being available for the West Indies series coming up. So we don't want to take any risks with the T20 World Cup coming up.

"She's still right to bat, still right to run, but it's just the bowling that she's got a little bit of pain at the moment … we'll get her scanned and then we'll have to offload her for a little while and that's why we don't want to take any chances with the next few matches coming up."

If Molineux was to be ruled out of the West Indies tour then Ashleigh Gardner or Tahlia McGrath, the joint vice-captains, will likely take the reins. McGrath is on the outer of Australia's T20 side after being overlooked for the entire T20I series against India, but was named as the vice-captain for the second ODI in place of Molineux.

With Alyssa Healy returning for the final stages of her career, Molineux had been anointed Australia's vice-captain for the ODI leg and one-off Test against India following her first taste in the captaincy hot seat during the T20I leg.

Molineux's back issue is the latest in a long line of setbacks, including a knee injury that sidelined her for most of last year. Given her luckless run, Molineux was considered a left-field choice to succeed Healy as an all-format captain.

"The Sophie Molineux news today was a bit of a shock for everyone and a disappointing one for her," Healy said on Fox Cricket.

Molineux's setback has added to Australia's mounting injury list with Elysse Perry and Kim Garth ruled out of the ODI series with quad strains. Their availability for the WACA Test match starting on March 6 remains unknown.

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