The Renegades' WBBL title defence is looking solid, but it's the room for improvement that has the skipper most excited
Molineux calls for batting gains as Renegades eye finals
Sophie Molineux has called on the Melbourne Renegades' batting line-up to find another level as they look to cement their spot in the WBBL|11 top four.
The Renegades are second on the table with four wins from six matches and have put themselves in a strong position heading into the business end of the tournament despite only posting one individual 50-plus score so far this season.
Georgia Wareham is their current leading run scorer, having hit 164 in six innings at an average of 41 and strike rate of 151.85, with Courtney Webb their next most productive batter, with 126 at 25.2.
Those numbers have Molineux excited about what the Renegades can achieve once they are firing on all cylinders, with key matches looming against Perth Scorchers on Thursday, and the Stars on Saturday.
"We've got the depth there, we've got a long list of batters ... we're probably just waiting for that really big score and big partnership," Molineux said.
"That's the exciting part. There's still so much to improve from a fielding, bowling point of view, but mostly batting.
"We can still go to another level with that, and we're really aware (of it), and we know what we need to do to be able to get to that point.
"I feel like just looking at the way we've gone about it, I think there's still so much to improve on, but we're getting a lot of things right as well."
The Renegades are without one of the main architects of their WBBL|10 championship this season after Hayley Matthews was sidelined by shoulder surgery, robbing them of a crucial player both with bat and ball.
But stepping up in her stead this season has been Wareham, who at the midway point of the season looms as a serious contender for player of the tournament.
The Australian leg-spinner has put to rest any doubts of her status as an allrounder, backing up her batting with 12 wickets at 9.08, with a league-leading economy rate of 4.95.
"She's been awesome ... I think starting off the season, having that leadership role next to her name really set her up and she's really just pushed on and gotten better and better each game," Molineux said of Wareham, who filled in as skipper in the opening matches of the season.
"It's so nice to see her do her thing out there.
"She's really calm – she always is – but she's hitting the ball beautifully and bowling superbly as a leg-spinner which is always really hard.
"She's been working really hard, especially in the last six to 12 months and I think she's set herself up to take her game to the next level, and we're seeing that now."
Molineux said she was also impressed by how the club's younger players had stepped up taking on key roles with the ball in the Powerplay, Power Surge and at the death.
"We've had some really good bowling performances in a tournament that's so batter friendly ... our bowlers have stood up at different points in time and have been really good defensively," Molineux said.
"The likes of Milly Illingworth, Charis Bekker, Issy Wong coming in and playing a role, Alice Capsey is not even that old, either.
"We've definitely put a lot of faith into the young girls, and they're here for a reason, and they've got a role to play, no matter what their age or experience is, and they've played their role beautifully so far.
"And you throw Tessie Flintoff into the mix, and she's had some really important overs so far this this tournament.
"I feel like we're all playing different roles each game, we've been really flexible. And it's been really good to see some of the girls take some wickets and bowl to their plans."
Weber WBBL|11 Standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
HUR
|
10 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0.662 | 0 | 15 |
|
2
SIX
|
10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | -0.313 | 0 | 13 |
|
3
SCO
|
10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | -0.132 | 0 | 12 |
|
4
STA
|
10 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0.629 | 0 | 11 |
|
5
REN
|
10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.121 | 0 | 10 |
|
6
STR
|
10 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0.077 | 0 | 9 |
|
7
THU
|
10 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 | -0.124 | 0 | 9 |
|
8
HEA
|
10 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 1 | -0.869 | 0 | 1 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points