{"id":478672,"date":"2026-02-14T03:31:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T03:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/478672\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T03:31:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T03:31:11","slug":"australian-women-vs-india-series-alana-king-interview-t20-squad-sophie-molineux-captain-video-fixtures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/478672\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian women vs India series, Alana King interview, T20 squad, Sophie Molineux captain, video, fixtures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Leg-sinner Alana King hasn\u2019t given up hope of representing her country at this year\u2019s T20 World Cup despite her \u201cdisappointing\u201d omission from Australia\u2019s T20 squad to face India.<\/p>\n<p>The 30-year-old, named player of the Women\u2019s Ashes last summer, was Australia\u2019s second-leading wicket-taker during the recent World Cup campaign in India, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/cricket\/icc-womens-world-cup\/cricket-world-cup-women-2025-results-alana-king-figures-stats-leg-spinner-record-haul-in-australia-vs-south-africa-match\/news-story\/a2066088131db0eaf58b102e96c6aaae\" title=\"www.foxsports.com.au\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">taking record-breaking figures of 7-18 against South Africa in Indore<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>However, the wrist spinner missed selection for Australia\u2019s three-match T20 series against India, which commences at the SCG on Sunday, dropped in favour of fellow leggie Georgia Wareham.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/poster-fallback.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>King claimed six wickets at 16.33 with an economy rate of 7.53 in T20Is last year, but there was no room for her in a 14-player squad that also features captain Sophie Molineux and all-rounder Ash Gardner.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the biggest Aussie sports &amp; the best from overseas LIVE on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? <a href=\"https:\/\/kayosports.com.au?pg=default&amp;extcamp=fsaeditoriallinkgeneric-edt-fsp-lnk-awr-grc-grc-kyo&amp;channel=fsa&amp;campaign=fsacontra&amp;voucher=\" title=\"kayosports.com.au\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Join now and get your first month for just $1 &gt;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s always disappointing when you miss out on a squad, especially in a pretty big series against India,\u201d King told Fox Cricket.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot much I can do about that. It is what it is.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t fit everyone into the squad, let alone the XI.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She added: \u201cI\u2019m always trying to keep evolving my game, keep getting better and keep putting my hand up. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a hard one. I just think it\u2019s the make-up of the squads and everything like that. You can only fit so many people in a squad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Get all the latest cricket news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/newsletter-sign-up?utm_source=CricketArticle&amp;utm_medium=TextLink&amp;utm_campaign=signup\" title=\"www.foxsports.com.au\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up now &gt;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Australia only has six T20Is scheduled until the next edition of the T20 World Cup, which commences in the United Kingdom in June, but King doesn\u2019t want to look too far ahead, preferring to focus on her short-term duties.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can control what I can control, and that\u2019s trying to put on good performances when I can and train really well and keep having those open conversations with the coaching staff and the selection panel,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve got to turn the disappointment into a bit of fuel and try to keep knocking the door down whenever the opportunity comes. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll see after the series what happens, but I can\u2019t look too far ahead at the T20 World Cup. There\u2019s so much cricket to be played before that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alana King of Australia. Photo by Pankaj Nangia\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>King recently recovered from a fractured little finger she sustained during the second match of this season\u2019s WBBL with the Perth Scorchers, where she claimed 12 wickets at 28.16, making it her least prolific Big Bash campaign in six years.<\/p>\n<p>The Victoria-born West Australian confessed the wounded digit \u201cdefinitely\u201d restricted her bowling during the T20 competition, but clarified it \u201cshould be good to go\u201d for the India series.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never thought that a little pinkie would play a pretty big part in how I bowled leg spin,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt affected it quite a bit. I just didn\u2019t have any control on the ball.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was pretty frustrating for me not to contribute as much as I could for the Scorchers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut as the tournament went on, my pain tolerance grew a little bit, so by the end of it I was able to give it a fizz as much as I could.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She added with a smile: \u201cHopefully I don\u2019t break any more fingers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>India are the reigning world champions having eliminated Australia in last year\u2019s World Cup semi-final before defeating South Africa in the tournament decider. Speaking at the Governor-General\u2019s Morning Tea Reception at Admiralty House on Thursday morning, head coach Amol Muzumdar confessed that he still watches YouTube highlights of India\u2019s record run chase against Australia.<\/p>\n<p>For the first time in nearly a decade, Australia isn\u2019t in possession of either major ICC trophies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re playing the world champs, we\u2019re not going to hide from that,\u201d said King, who trained alongside several of India\u2019s players during the recent Women\u2019s Premier League campaign, including Delhi Capitals captain Jemimah Rodrigues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know our best is going to be the best in the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIndia are a formidable team to play against and the series is going to be a great rivalry. It\u2019s going to be pretty heated, it\u2019s going to be fiery and I think that\u2019s what brings the best out of both teams.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The multi-format series against India concludes with a four-day Test at the WACA, King\u2019s home ground since migrating from Victoria in 2020. She wants the Perth venue, which was recently redeveloped, to host women\u2019s international cricket \u201cevery summer\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI absolutely love it,\u201d she declared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt provides a great contest for bat and ball. Being a little bit biased now, being a Perth local, but I think a game every summer at the WACA is going to be tremendous for the women\u2019s game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>King has been forced to develop her top-spinner since switching allegiances, with the WACA\u2019s hard deck providing additional bounce that she can exploit. Although the venue traditionally favours fast bowlers, she\u2019s adapted to the conditions by expanding her variation deliveries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I was moving over to WA, a lot of people were a bit sceptical that spin wasn\u2019t really going to play a part at the WACA, but I think that\u2019s helped me develop the way I bowl,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe extra bounce is great. I\u2019m not really a tall person, but everyone knows that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Australia&#8217;s Alana King. Photo by William WEST \/ AFPSource: AFP<\/p>\n<p>Sunday\u2019s T20 series opener in Sydney will be Molineux\u2019s first opportunity to lead her country <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/cricket\/breaking-highprofile-candidates-snubbed-as-new-aussie-cricket-captain-revealed\/news-story\/668d5336d4784b147038096a52a0dbe6\" title=\"www.foxsports.com.au\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">since being named Australia\u2019s multi-format captain<\/a>, taking over from Alyssa Healy. King, who played alongside Molineux during her time at Victoria, described the 28-year-old as an \u201cincredible leader\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s a tremendous person,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor her to take the reins after Midge, I think it\u2019s an exciting time for the Australian team. I know everyone\u2019s excited for her, and I think she\u2019s pretty keen to get out there and make it her own.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe just wants to be Sophie. We all love Sophie for who she is, and I\u2019m just excited for her to enter this new chapter. It\u2019s going to drive her a lot more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s very measured in the way she goes about things tactically.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m excited to have her as a skipper. I\u2019m pumped for her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/cricket\/healy-retirement-creates-awkward-captaincy-dilemma-ahead-of-aussie-world-cup-quest\/news-story\/15af8cf5109530b9e4060d42cb73ddb2\" title=\"www.foxsports.com.au\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Healy will captain Australia during the three ODIs and lone Test against India<\/a>, her final four appearances in the national side. The wicketkeeper, who led her country on 58 occasions following Meg Lanning\u2019s retirement in 2023, steps away from the game following a 16-year international career headlined with six T20 World Cup titles, also lifting the Women\u2019s World Cup in New Zealand in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>She represented Australia 295 times across formats, scoring 7106 runs and completing 275 dismissals with the gloves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t really put into words what Midge has done for this side over the 16 years that she\u2019s played for international cricket,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHer fiery edge that she has in the Australian team, her want to win every game and every contest, we\u2019re going to miss that no doubt, but I think hopefully we can put on a really good performance for her and hopefully she can leave the game with another trophy in her cabinet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m definitely going to miss someone who gets pretty fired up behind the stumps and just having her wanting to get into the contest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The women\u2019s T20 series opener between Australia and India gets underway at the SCG on Sunday, with the first ball scheduled for 7.15pm AEDT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leg-sinner Alana King hasn\u2019t given up hope of representing her country at this year\u2019s T20 World Cup despite&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-478672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}