Last Updated on 3 years by Charbel Coorey
Cricket News: Meg Lanning makes decision to skip WBBL to continue break | Meg Lanning will miss WBBL 08 due to personal reasons
Australian skipper Meg Lanning will miss the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) as she has decided to extend her indefinite break from the sport. The 30-year-old is contracted with the Melbourne Stars in the WBBL and there is no clarity over her return to professional cricket at this point in time. Lanning had led Australia to a gold-medal finish in the recently-concluded Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Birmingham.
“The club respects her decision and asks that her privacy continue to be respected,” the Stars’ official statement was quoted in a report by ESPNcricinfo.
Lanning to skip WBBL, Melbourne Stars seek replacement
The club begins its upcoming campaign against the Brisbane Heat on 15th October and they will be in the lookout for a new captain in Lanning’s absence. Most probably, the Australian women’s team will require a new skipper for their tour to India in mid-December provided Lanning continues her on-going break from the sport.
Newly-confirmed head coach Shelley Nitschke has explained that talks over Lanning’s future haven’t taken place yet. She has expressed confidence on the potential of the squad to give rise to a new leadership group as former vice-captain Rachael Haynes has hung her boots from international and state cricket as well.
“When the time is right we’ll have those conversations about whether she (Lanning) is back in December or whenever it might be,” Nitschke opened up on the issue.
She added, “There are a good group of emerging leaders in our team that are going to have opportunities to stick their hands up. We don’t have a designated leadership group but there are people amongst the team and group that are leaders on and off the field. Some girls lead in their states. They all have different strengths.”
Lanning has led the Australian women’s team for the better part of the last decade. She has been at the helm of multiple World Cup titles across the ODI and T20 formats. The batter also captained them to several Ashes victories and rounded it all up with the aforementioned CWG gold medal before stepping aside from the game temporarily for personal reasons.
Also read: The growth of women’s cricket, in numbers
