After Women's T20 WC win, Molineux sets sight on more silverware glory for Australia

London, July 6 (IANS) Fresh from leading Australia to an unprecedented seventh ICC Women’s T20 World Cup title, skipper Sophie Molineux said she has set her sights on scaling greater heights and securing more silverware glory for her team, which is currently in a transition phase.

Sophie’s appointment as Australia’s captain stood fully vindicated on Sunday after she led her side to an unprecedented seventh Women’s T20 World Cup title with a dominant seven-wicket victory over England at Lord’s. She also finished as Australia’s leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 11 scalps from seven matches.

“Look, we’re always – we’re in the business of trying to get better. We definitely will celebrate this and it rolls on pretty quick after this. And we don’t think we’ve reached any ceilings yet as this team has got generational talent from young girls like Lucy Hamilton right to the end of the spectrum with Ellyse Perry and Beth Mooney.

“I think we’re in this really beautiful spot where it’s shared and everyone wants to play for each other and committing fully to how we want to play. So yeah, long may that live,” Sophie was quoted as saying by ICC at the conclusion of the tournament.

Sophie had taken over as Australia’s captain in all three formats from Alyssa Healy at the start of the year. It came at a challenging time, just months after Australia’s shocking semi-final exit against India in the 2025 ODI World Cup, which had left the perennially successful side without an ICC trophy.

In between, Sophie had to deal with back injury, which cast further doubt over her time as the Australian captain. “It’s been the most amazing day. To have walked away with a World Cup under our arms in front of nearly 30,000 here at the Lords, it was an incredibly special day. I think when I took over (the captaincy), I was a bit messy at the start, to be fair.

“Captaining a couple of games and getting injured was a shock. I suppose there were a few doubts internally and a few doubts externally. But I think what maybe I’ve learnt over my journey so far is that you just have to keep believing. I’m incredibly lucky that people believed in me, and I suppose I believe in this team and this group more than anything as well. It’s really satisfying.

“When I did miss those games at the start of the summer after just being announced captain, it probably made me feel like it might not work out. But I just think I’m so incredibly lucky with the support I’ve had over the last, not only just the last six months, but it’s been 10 years in this team for Australia.

“The group has just been incredible in terms of being open to anything, and being flexible, and we’ve grown and evolved in the last six months more than I’ve ever seen (before), so I’m extremely proud,” she elaborated.

In a moment of pure jubilation reminiscent of the late Australian icon Shane Warne, Sophie celebrated the historic triumph by pouring a bottle of beer over her head on the historic Lord’s balcony. Just like Warne, Sophie was also seen triumphantly holding a stump over her head as her ecstatic teammates joined in the revelry around her.

“I feel incredibly grateful playing cricket for a living with some of my best mates. Beyond cricket, they’re all just really good people that want the best for each other. And that’s, I suppose, the beauty of this team.

“When you’ve got so much skill in there, the danger is that you can probably become a bit insular and chase runs and wickets and whatever. There is none of that in this team. This team wants to be the best we can be. And the way we played this tournament in every single game reflected that,” she concluded.

–IANS

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