"That's our brand of Twenty-20 cricket" says Molineux after Australia's win

Sophie Molineux starred for Australia in their first Twenty-20 win of the series, against Pakistan. She finished with the remarkable figures of 4-16 from her four overs. Her scalps included those of both Pakistani openers; Nahida Khan and Muneeba Ali, their skipper Javeria Khan and the top-scorer for Pakistan in the last ODI, Aliya Riaz. For her efforts, Molineux was adjudged the Player-of-the-Match.



Following her standout performance, Molineux spoke to cricket.com.au. Recounting the win, she said, "The batters set it out really well. I think Midge (Alyssa Healy) and Moons (Beth Mooney) hit the ball really hard and played to their strengths. Then, with the bowling, everyone played their roles and hit the stumps so, it was a pretty good performance."



The win means Australia takes a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Like Molineux said, the Australian's showed their intent early with Healy, Mooney and Ashleigh Gardener, all playing an aggressive brand of cricket. "I think that's our brand of Twenty-20 cricket," she reflected. "That we're trying to live by. Ash, Midge and Moons, actually everyone that went out there today really put that on show. They were hitting the ball really well and it was really good to watch. There was a good balance between going and being smart and also, taking the singles."



Molineux herself has been in good form with the ball. She took six wickets across the three ODI matches before this series, and has now added four more to her tour tally. She appears to be a real threat for the upcoming World Twenty-20. And, she will surely make it difficult for Jess Jonassen, a veteran left-arm spinner, the same as Molinuex- who had to miss out on the tour due to injury- to make her way back into the Playing XI. On her personal performance, Molineux commented, "I'm just trying to keep it simple. Over here, the spinners have done well so, I'm just trying to keep it simple and hit the stumps. I've had some really good conversations with Shelley (Nitschke, Assistant Coach) and all the spinners have as well. We just want to keep playing our roles. If that's dots at one end so Wolfie (Georgia Wareham) can take wickets at the other, we're really happy to do that."



"I think cricket's a bit of a funny sport," she added. "Sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn't. Especially, in Twenty-20 cricket, so I just put it down to everyone playing their roles in the bowling line-up. I've been lucky that I've been taking the wickets. I think everyone's bowled really well and it's a credit to all the bowlers."



Australia posted a massive total of 195-3 on the board for Pakistan to chase down. It was always going to be an uphill batter for the team in green but, they showed some serious intent. About her opponents, Molineux said, "We knew they were going to come out with some good intent. We saw in the last one-dayer, they had a few shots up there sleeve and they pulled them out today. It was really good, attacking game of cricket. It was good to be out there."



As for what the team will look to improve upon for the next match, Molineux expressed, "There's always things to work on. With our batting, making 195 is a really good score. I suppose we can try and push the boundaries even further there. With the ball, we bowled a few extras so it'll be nice to pin them back a little bit."