Australia have announced their squads for the T20 and the ODI segment of the women's Ashes 2025 and their star spinner Sophie Molineux is not a part of it. Molineux has been ruled out of the multiformat series with a knee injury.
Molineux, 26, battled with her knee injury during the entirety of WBBL 10 and somehow managed it as she led Melbourne Renegades to their title finish. The spin-bowling allrounder played in the three-match series against India after the WBBL but was not at her fluent best.
She was not included in Australia's recent trip to New Zealand for a three-match ODI series as she continues to make her way back to full fitness.
"Sophie Molineux will undergo left knee surgery next month, following that we will provide further updates on an anticipated return date," team physiotherapist Kate Beerworth was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
Australia's concerns are not limited to Molineux's fitness. They also have to worry about their captain Alyssa Healy who recently recovered from a knee injury and is not yet fully fit to keep wickets. The skipper was a part of Australia's squad in the New Zealand series but didn't keep wickets as Beth Mooney filled up for her.
Healy has been named in the Governor General's XI squad for a 50-over warm-up game against England to be played on January 9 at the North Sydney Oval. She feels that the practice match will allow her to assess her fitness and how sooner can she stand behind the stumps with the wicketkeeping gloves in hand.
"That'll be a great opportunity for me to take the gloves for a little bit and see how everything's progressing," Healy said. "I can't really give you any more information than that. It's kind of play it by ear at the moment to see how everything pulls up. But I did thoroughly enjoy running around the field in New Zealand. So if that's the option and is less disruptive to our side, then that could be the way moving forward. But the aim is to take the gloves and hopefully I can do that.
"Having an angry joint in there and flaring that up, and knowing the really tight schedule with the Ashes as well, probably managing that and not wanting to blow it up too much that it's going to affect my ability to play at all. So that'll be the real test, I think, in the next 10 days, moving into the series as to how that pulls up, how it responds to keeping again, and we'll just assess as we go."
| Date | Match | Venue |
| January 12 | 1st ODI | North Sydney Oval, Sydney |
| January 14 | 2nd ODI | Junction Oval, Melbourne |
| January 17 | 3rd ODI | Bellerive Oval, Hobart |
| January 20 | 1st T20I | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney |
| January 23 | 2nd T20I | Manuka Oval, Canberra |
| January 25 | 3rd T20I | Adelaide Oval, Adelaide |
| January 30-February 02 | Only Test | Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne |
Australia's T20I and ODI squads for the Women's Ashes:
Alyssa Healy (C), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris (T20s only), Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham
