Australia women’s cricket teams captain Meg Lanning has announced that she is taking an “indefinite” break from cricket for personal reasons with her board’s approval.
“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, Australia’s most capped women’s player, said in a statement.
“I’m grateful for the support of CA and my teammates and ask that my privacy is respected during this time.”
In a statement issued by Cricket Australia, the board backed her decision for a break after Lanning led Australia during a hectic two and a half years for her side.
“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,” said Shawn Flegler, CA Head of Performance for Women’s Cricket.
Meg Lanning is not the first person to ask for a break from cricket. A busy cricketing schedule is forcing more and more players to take time away from the sport with Ben Stokes retiring from ODI’s and Trent Boult asking out of his contract with Cricket New Zealand prime examples of the toll the game takes on players.
The upcoming edition of The Hundred is the first tournament she will miss due to her break where she was set to represent the Trent Rockets.
Australia has enjoyed a trophy-laden spell under Lanning’s captaincy.
She recently led her side to the inaugural gold medal in the Commonwealth games over India while also guiding the team to back-to-back Twenty20 World Cups in 2018 and 2020 and the 50-overs World Cup this year.
Lanning also has the T20 World Cups in 2012 and 2014 to her name and has been named the International Cricket Council’s Women’s Cricketer of the year in ODI (2015) and T20 (2014) cricket.
