“I’ve got no idea how to go about this really,” the now former Australian cricket captain Meg Lanning said as she began her speech to announce her international retirement. A small gathering of reporters stood before her in silence as she tried to abridge a storied career in a few minutes.
One would assume this is how uncertain life would have looked for Meghann Moira Lanning in 2014 when she was thrust into the captainship of Australia across all formats.
The women in green and gold had, up until then, two T20 World Cup titles and six ODI World Cup crowns, making it the most decorated side in the women’s game. Take a minute and imagine the weight of that responsibility on a then sprightly 21-year-old.
Close to a decade later, Lanning has a resume many would kill for. Five World Cup titles (one ODI World Cup win, five T20 World titles), three Ashes triumphs, a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games - a stacked trophy cabinet underlines her status as the most decorated captain in the game’s history. She has more ICC trophies to her name than her idol and compatriot Ricky Ponting (four) and India’s M.S. Dhoni (three).
Ponting’s brand of leadership style was often one of in-your-face aggression while Dhoni was the living embodiment of ice in one’s veins no matter how hot the fire in the room was. Lanning managed to be the best of both worlds.
After the disappointment of the 2017 World Cup, Meg Lanning had her eyes on the bigger picture. She wanted ‘Australia’ inscribed on the trophy in 2022 and she made it happen without losing a single game in that edition. | Photo Credit: Ryan Pierse
A hunger to succeed
When someone with such accomplishment takes a moment at the finish line to look at what stands out most about the journey, you’d expect a return to the zenith - to the highest point of victory, but Lanning chooses to revisit rock bottom.
“2017 - that World Cup didn’t go to plan,” she told reporters. “But when you look back at that, we learned so much, I learned so much and I think the success we went on to get wouldn’t have been possible without that experience. While it was awful at the time, it was a really good reality check.”
“The successful five years after that - the way we were able to come together and all be on the same page; on and off the field, how we were able to make it work, I think was a bit of magic and is something I haven’t experienced before or after that period. Myself, Rachel (Haynes, then Australia vice captain) and Motty (head coach Matthew Mott, now with the England men’s white ball teams) were the leaders there but the group really stepped up,” she added.
In this reflection lies Lanning’s legacy, one that has a small Indian hand in it. At the 2017 Women’s ODI World Cup in England, defending champion Australia was up against an inconsistent India in the semifinal. A relatively easy hurdle, most would have thought. But Harmanpreet Kaur’s unbeaten 171 happened. She outscored the rest of her teammates (97 runs), including the extras (13), to take India to 281/4 in 50 overs.
A team effort with the ball from India saw Australia bowled out for 245 despite resistance from then Aussie vice captain Alex Blackwell (90) and Ellyse Villani (75). Lanning was dismissed for an eight-ball duck by Jhulan Goswami, whose inswinging ball didn’t just knock Lanning’s off stump, but rocked her to the very core. The skipper and her team took the drubbing and an unceremonious World Cup exit personally.
LISTEN | Sportstar’s Lavanya Lakshminarayanan is joined by author, former journalist and Delhi Capitals Media Manager Suprita Das to discuss Lanning’s legacy, the itch to move away from the game and more.
From that day until 4 March 2022- which is when a COVID-19-delayed 2021 Women’s ODI World Cup began - Australia played 33 One-Day Internationals and won a ridiculous 31 of them.
Of the side’s two losses, one came early on against England at Coffs Harbour and the second came after a record 26-game unbeaten streak was halted by India in 2021 with a two-wicket win. Goswami haunted Lanning and Co. once more, with the veteran Indian pacer removing the Australian captain for a duck yet again.
Lanning, however, always had her eyes on the bigger picture. She wanted ‘Australia’ inscribed on the trophy in 2022 and she made it happen without losing a single game in that edition.
The need for perspective
The same year, after leading Australia to a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Lanning took a sudden break from the game. “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,” her statement then read.
A little over a year later, as she announced her international retirement, that sentiment endured.
“Cricket is all I’ve known for 13 years and I’ve given everything to succeed in it and help my team win. It’s been all about the team but I think now is the time I focus on myself,” she said, fighting back tears outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
DID YOU KNOW?
“I can understand why she feels drained mentally. In a way, she is a victim of her own brilliance. She has to be on top of her game individually as a batter and as captain,” says WV Raman, former India cricketer and former coach of the Indian women’s team.
“The Aussies are culturally built differently. The moment they feel they can’t give what they’ve been giving to the side for so long, they step away. They don’t try to overstay their welcome. It’s a trait they are very proud of,” he explains. Bowing out at the top is something Aussies know too well, think Ash Barty.
Raman was at the helm of an Indian side that frustrated Lanning and Australia on more than one occasion. However, there is no contesting that the Aussie way of cricket was, and in many ways is, miles ahead of other cricket playing nations in the women’s ecosystem. Raman credits the system for helping Lanning actualise her potential as an era-defining leader.
“We must acknowledge the fact that you need a system also that can support the plans you have. She got consistency from the system in terms of match schedules and the kind of cricket they were going to play. If you get the support you need from the system, results are bound to come. Consistency must not come just from captains and players, but needs to be sustained by other stakeholders like selectors, administrators and others involved with the national side,” he opines.
A full life
When Lanning took an indefinite break from the game, she swapped life in the baggy green for a stint as a barista. In a video shared by Women’s Premier League (WPL) outfit Delhi Capitals, she spoke about being cross with herself for messing up a few orders early on.
The tendency to not settle made it easier for Lanning to arrive at a decision to bid the international stage goodbye in a matter of 48 hours.
“I’ve achieved so much within the game and have been lucky enough to have such a successful career and be a part of so many successful teams but I guess I feel like I’ve got nothing left to achieve on the international stage and for me, I can’t be half out with anything. I no longer have the spark or motivation to do what needs to happen at this level and so for me, it’s time to move on and I am excited about that,” she said.
Lanning will continue to play domestic cricket. She is yet to win a Women’s Big Bash League. She lost out on being the first captain to win the WPL, with Harmanpreet (and Mumbai Indians) once again coming in her way.
Meg Lanning says she will continue playing domestic cricket but fans will know that they’re on borrowed time when it comes to seeing her on the field. | Photo Credit: Mark Metcalfe
Lanning loves walking. Her teammates say her walks are always purposeful. In South Africa once, when the team had an opportunity to take the cable car across the famous Table Mountain in Cape Town, Lanning decided to hike up, a decision that left her winded out at the end of it all. “But hey, I get to say I hiked up Table Mountain,” Haynes recalled Lanning saying. So much of what she’s achieved with Australia was done the same way. It wasn’t always the scenic route but the view from the top was well worth the blood, sweat and tears.
Much like Ponting and Dhoni, Lanning’s shoes will be too big to fill. As bittersweet as it may be to usher in the end of the Lanning era, it has been a privilege to bear witness to one of the most menacing legacies in modern day sport.
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