Australia women cricket team’s in-form spinner Sophie Molineux showed tremendous courage and grit despite a freak injury during third ODI of the series. Molineux got injured on the last ball of the 39th over while trying to catch a throw from Stella Campbell. The awkward bounce of the throw took the Aussie by surprise as the ball hit her on the mouth.
Moments after the impact on lip, blood was gushing out of the 23-year-old’s mouth. She was taken off the field by the support staff. Even when she was walking off the field, there was blood on her jersey. After seeing the visuals, many expected that she would not return to the field and Australia have lost their most economical bowler.
Wounded not in spirit
To everyone’s surprise Molineux returned to the field with a bandage on her mouth in just few overs. She bowled her heart out in the first over she bowled after the injury but did not get a wicket. She dropped off her own bowling and then Nicola Carey dropped an easy one at square leg.
After Rana’s hat-trick of boundaries, Molineux was once again thrown the ball. With 10 runs needed off last three overs, she helped Australia stay in the match by giving just two runs in the four overs. In the last over, she targeted new batter Meghna Singh but Jhulan Goswami finished the run chase with a boundary with three balls to spare. She finished with 41 runs from 9.3 overs including the wicket of opener Shafali Verma.
