New era dawns as Australia seeks revenge against India for World Cup defeat

Sophie Molineux did not become captain of Australia’s cricket team because of a crisis or a coup, and yet she has found herself at the helm of a squad eager to navigate out of a major setback.

Molineux was named skipper last month, replacing Alyssa Healy who announced her retirement. Molineux will lead Australia’s squad in a multi-format series against their World Cup conquerors India starting this weekend.

The series will mark Healy’s final act and the first time the Australians have come together since India eliminated them at the semi-finals of the World Cup in October. The Indians went on to win the tournament, beating South Africa in the final.

For the Australians, the upcoming series – starting with a T20 match at the SCG on Sunday night – will be a chance for revenge.

“We’ve had a bit of time to reflect,” Molineux said. “It was such a good tour – that was, I think, the hardest part to cop. We had a really good time off the field together and we played really, really good cricket, and we went through undefeated until that semi-final, so I think that’s why it was so hard to cop.

“Off the back of that we went straight into Big Bash, but I think all of us still were wearing it pretty heavily, the loss.”

Meeting India again, first in three T20 matches, then three one-day internationals and one four-day Test, will be the first challenge for the new captain. It’s also a chance to try out new talent, such as 19-year-old left-handed fast bowler Lucy Hamilton, and those returning to the squad for the first time in years, as 32-year-old Nicola Carey has done.

“It’s quite ironic I suppose,” Molineux said of facing India again. “I think they’re going to come over here with a lot of confidence off the back of that World Cup and how much momentum they gained over there from India.

“They’re all rock stars now. So they’re coming out here full of confidence, and we know, we’re well aware they’ll bring challenges we’ll have to face.

“I think that’s the next part of it, to look those challenges in the eye and run towards them.”

One teammate, Phoebe Litchfield, admits she’s probably spent too much time thinking about that semi-final. For her, it should have been one to remember fondly, after scoring her first World Cup century and becoming the youngest Australian woman to do so during a knock-out match, and the second-youngest across the whole tournament.

But while she’s watched the video of her century celebration back, she hasn’t watched her dismissal – where an attempt at a ramp shot saw her clean bowled for 119.

“I’ve rewatched my hundred celebration a couple of times,” she said. “I’ve never smiled that way before on a cricket field. So to then three hours later have it purely just ripped off my face, into tears ... That’s the game, I guess.

“Daily, it would come into my mind. It hurt. I think purely just because we think we let it slip. It wasn’t necessarily they beat us, I think we let them win.”

While much of the Australian squad knows what it’s like to win a World Cup trophy, 22-year-old Litchfield hasn’t won one yet.

“I’m chasing that, from a selfish point of view. Would love to get my hands on a trophy one day, and to contribute in the way I did in that tournament was really cool. But to not come away with anything was bittersweet.”

This India series will be one step closer to getting even.

“I’m just keen to play for Australia again,” Litchfield said. “Excitement, first and foremost. But yeah, [also] a bit of redemption I guess.”

Carey’s stunning comeback after turning down CA contract

Nicola Carey rejected a contract with Cricket Australia in 2023 and assumed she’d never be offered another one.

The now 32-year-old all-rounder, who had represented Australia since 2018, was comfortable with her decision to focus on domestic cricket in Tasmania, even if it meant not being available for her country again. By then she’d spent years on the fringes anyway, so what difference would it make to stop travelling with the team if she wasn’t playing?

“I’d made peace with it if it didn’t happen. I was so OK with it,” Carey said. “The decision at the time, I’ve probably said this a million times, but it was literally just about playing more games of cricket and that was just the path that I thought was the best way to go about it for me.

“That’s the risk you take by potentially never being able to play again, and I was really OK with that because I guess I had other things I wanted to achieve in terms of seeing where I could get with my cricket ... I just wanted to go back [and] try and get better.”

And get better she did. Now Carey is back in Australia’s team for the multi-format series against India starting at the SCG on Sunday night.

Since she walked away from the team, Carey was awarded player of the match in the final of the 2025 season of The Hundred in England, made her debut in India’s Women’s Premier League, and last week claimed the 2025-2026 domestic player of the year award after winning the Women’s Big Bash League with the Hobart Hurricanes.

Carey believes her newly bolstered CV wouldn’t have filled if she hadn’t turned that Cricket Australia contract down.

“When you’re on tour, it’s all a lot of top-up training. It’s get what you need to be ready for the game. And if you’re not playing in those games, it’s a lot harder to get that time in the nets, if you want to work on something,” she said.

“I probably felt like I was plateauing ... I just wanted to get better, and I had to think about what was the best way to do that for me, and that was the option that I went with.”

Carey didn’t then expect to get a call from national selector Shawn Flegler last month.

“If you’d have asked me, I would have said ‘that’s really unlikely that’ll happen again’,” she said.

But despite saying she’d have been happy playing franchise cricket for the rest of her career, Carey didn’t have to think about her answer: “It didn’t take any convincing to come back.”

Last week, she was named in Australia’s T20 squad and ODI squad for the India series.

And whether she’d think about accepting another contract from Cricket Australia?

“Probably. I’ve got to get through this series. It could be the worst series ever and I might get dropped. We’ll just see what happens.”