Meg Lanning, the skipper of the Australian women’s team has announced an indefinite break from cricket with an immediate effect following personal reasons.
Cricket Australia confirmed the news on Wednesday (August 10) that Meg Lanning, the skipper of the Australian women’s team has announced an indefinite break from cricket with an immediate effect following personal reasons and she has not given any timeline for her return.
“After a busy couple of years, I’ve made the decision to take a step back to enable me to spend time focusing on myself,”
Lanning said on Wednesday (August 10).
“I’m grateful for the support of CA and my teammates and ask that my privacy is respected during this time.”
“We’re proud of Meg for acknowledging that she needs a break and will continue to support her during this time,”
said CA Head of Performance, Women’s Cricket, Shawn Flegler.
“She’s been an incredible contributor to Australian cricket over the last decade, achieving remarkable feats both individually and as part of the team, and has been a brilliant role model for young kids.
“The welfare of our players is always our number one priority, and we’ll continue to work with Meg to ensure she gets the support and space she needs.”
Lanning had been at the forefront and one of the main reasons that Australia is dominating the world of cricket over the last decade achieved remarkable feats both individually and for the group as a whole. The 30-year-old has also been a role model for the kids.
In the past two years, she led Australia in a T20I and 50-over World Cup and won the Ashes series recently. For now, there is no confirmed date for Lanning to return as a skipper as she wrote the decision in her statement and also mentioned that her privacy should be respected.
She is one of the top batters in women’s cricket globally, currently standing at 2nd in the ICC T20I rankings and 5th in the ODIs. After making her debut back in 2010, Lanning was handed the captaincy in 2014, when she was 21 years old.
For the record, Lanning has led Australia in a record 171 matches with only the legendary Allan Border and Rickey Ponting ahead of her. The step taken by Lanning will be a challenging situation for Cricket Australia as they will be looking for a new skipper. Australia has a forthcoming tour of India in five T20I series, which might see a new charge in guard.
Lanning recently led Australia to a gold medal-winning campaign at the Commonwealth Games 2022 where they beat India in the final. She was supposed to represent the Trent Rockers in the second edition of ‘The Hundred’ but unfortunately, she will miss the tournament and her availability in the upcoming Australian domestic summer is yet to be known.
