By JARROD POTTER
FOR many it would be hard to top Sophie Molineux’s 2015-16 season, but the Dandenong Lions’ all-rounder is no ordinary cricketer.
For someone who has only just turned 18, the cricketing world has been at her beck and call this year with a cavalcade of phenomenal achievements.
The Bairnsdale girl’s 2015-16 resume is better than most players’ whole careers: she played for the Melbourne Renegades in the inaugural Women’s Big Bash League, picked for the Australian Governor General’s XI and captained the Victorian under-18s to a national championship victory.
And to cap it off she’s been sensational whenever she could don the Dandenong colours after smashing her maiden first XI century, smashing 112 against Box Hill in October.
Even with the senior successes she had with the Renegades and the national-level selection, her greatest joy from this year was winning the national championship – captaining Victoria to a 59-run win over NSW Metropolitan in the final.
She averaged 62.5 in the championships with three half-tons including a match-defining 59 in the finale.
“Probably the national championship – just winning that,” Molineux said.
“Taking the national championship we had a great bunch of girls and was great to win it as it was a long time coming.
“All the hard work we’ve done throughout the year we put into practice and we pretty comfortably won every game which was good to see.
“It was huge to be involved – just to see how far women’s cricket has come in the last three months – it’s grown so much and the profiles of so many girls have just risen,” Molineux said.
“You’ve got to sort of sit back and pinch yourself as it’s happened so quick – and happened too quick for a lot of girls in this Big Bash.
“There’s so much exposure that’s happening in women’s cricket and it’s good to be a part of.”
While it wasn’t a successful tournament for the Renegades – finishing last – the women in red upset eventual premiers Sydney Thunder on television as one of many highlights from Molineux’s inaugural campaign.
“I think beating the Thunder on Etihad Stadium on a televised game was huge for us,” Molineux said.
“We were on the bottom and they were on the top and for us to go out there and beat them pretty easily was fairly special.”
She was also one of the inaugural Australians picked for the Governor-General’s XI to play India and even though the match was rained out, Molineux loved every second in her first international-level clash.
Her cricketing ambitions will be put on the back foot this year, though, with her VCE studies taking priority.
But Molineux is determined to get back to the crease as much as possible in 2016.
“I start year 12 so I’m going to have to juggle cricket at home – for West Bairnsdale – and Dandenong and school at once – so I’ll see how many games I can get in with Dandenong this year and next season I’ll be able to play most games,” Molineux said.
“Love to win a few games with Dandy – they’ve been struggling the last couple of months but it would be good to get back there and help out as much as I can… and just keep enjoying my cricket.”
