In a bizarre move, Cricket Australia are set to announce a squad for the forthcoming Women’s Ashes series which does not include Amanda-Jade Wellington, despite the leg-spinner finishing as the leading wicket-taker in the 2021/22 WBBL.
According to reports in Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, Wellington has been edged out by Alana King, who has received her premier call-up to the national side. She will be included in the Australia A side which will be in action against the England A side during the main Ashes series, but there is unlikely to be a chance of “promotion” to the main side as the two squads are being kept separate for Covid biosecurity purposes.
Wellington last played for Australia in 2018 and since then has been consistently and inexplicably snubbed by the Australian selectors, despite consistently being a top performer in domestic and franchise cricket. She was the top-ranked bowler in our Women’s Hundred rankings and a key factor in Southern Brave’s progression to the final.
Other notable inclusions in the squad, which will be announced officially tomorrow, are Adelaide Strikers captain Tahlia McGrath, who enjoyed success in Australia’s recent series against India, and teenage pacer Darcie Brown.
The squad looks set to be as follows:
- Meg Lanning (c)
- Rachael Haynes
- Darcie Brown
- Nicola Carey
- Alyssa Healy
- Ashleigh Gardner
- Jess Jonassen
- Alana King
- Tahlia McGrath
- Beth Mooney
- Ellyse Perry
- Megan Schutt
Molly StranoHannah Darlington*- Annabel Sutherland
- Tayla Vlaeminck
[Amended 12 Jan 2022.]
CRICKETher 
Do Australia have the same problem England have long had: that it’s virtually impossible to get dropped if you’re an established player, but virtually impossible to get established if you’re on the fringes?
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Alana King is a fine bowler and a useful lower-order hitter – a less attacking type of bowler than Amanda-Jade Wellington, and therefore more of a like-for-like replacement for Georgia Wareham. But all the same, given Wellington’s track record and her ability to bowl wicket-taking deliveries, I’m very surprised she is not in the Australian squad, as I think she would be a better Test leg-spinner. It does look as though Wellington may have got on the wrong side of someone with influence over selection – if so, that’s a great pity. I’m a little surprised that Stella Campbell hasn’t made the squad, too.
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I can’t pretend I’m not disappointed to see AJW omitted from the Ashes squad, and remain unconvinced by the selector’s explanation. Congrats in order to Alana King, it will be interesting at the very least to see how she’s used in the series and if it backs up the talk from the Aussie selectors.
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