Meg Lanning, star Australian player, announces shock retirement from international cricket
Meg Lanning slammed a brilliant ton to help Australia beat South Africa in Women's World Cup 2022.
Australia women's team star Meg Lanning has announced a shock retirement from international cricket. Lanning, one of the most successful skippers for Australia, has been away from the game for the last 18 months, having taken two extended breaks for different reasons.
Lanning acknowledged that she has been thinking about stepping away from the game for the last year and a half and it was in the last 48 hours that she made up her mind.
"I've come to the realisation that I've probably been trying to convince myself a little bit over the last 18 months why I should keep playing and what it is that I want to achieve," Lanning said.
"I'm not someone who can do things half-in half-out. I've battled away a little bit trying to work all that out. But it sort of became quite clear, particularly over the last couple of days that this was the right call and what I'm ready for.
"Since I've made the decision I've certainly felt a little bit relieved, I guess, to have made a call and be a little bit clearer on what the next little bit looks like," she added.
31-year-old Lanning captained the Australia women's team in 182 games - third most for the nation after Ricky Ponting's 323 and Allan Border's 271 across all formats.
Lanning was Australia's skipper for 100 T20Is, 78 ODIs and four Tests. In these matches, she managed to win 76 T20Is, 69 ODI, and one Test as well.
She is also thehighest run scorer for the Aussie women's side in T20Is with 3,405 runs in 132 games at a strike rate of 116 and an average of 36. In ODIs, she has scored 4,602 runs in 103 ODIs at a staggering average of 53 with 15 hundreds and 21 fifties - the third most runs for Australia behind Belinda Clark and Karen Rolton.
