Australia women's team captain, Meg Lanning, on August 10 announced her decision to take an indefinite break from cricket. Lanning, who is one of the most celebrated figures in women's cricket and has led the Baggy Greens to multiple ICC titles, expressed gratitude towards Cricket Australia (CA) and her teammates while announcing her decision.
"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 in a statement.
"I'm grateful for the support of CA and my teammates and ask that my privacy is respected during this time."
Lanning's decision comes a couple of days after she led Australia to a historic gold medal in the recently-concluded 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games (CWG).
CA's head of performance for women's cricket, Shawn Flegler, lauded Lanning for her incredible contribution to Australian cricket and also underlined that the "welfare of players is always our number one priority".
"We're proud of Meg for acknowledging that she needs a break and will continue to support her during this time," Flegler said.
"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," he concluded.
After making her debut in 2010, Lanning quickly climbed up the ladders in terms of runs and leadership. The 30-year-old has been one of the architects behind Australia's domination in women's cricket. After being bestowed with captaincy duties at a very young age of 21 years, Lanning led Australia to two ODI World Cup titles and four T20 World Cups.
In her glittering international career so far, the right-handed batter has played six Tests, 100 ODIs and 124 T20Is for Australia. Overall, Lanning has amassed over 8,000 international runs.
Lanning is the latest in the line of cricketers (both men and women) who have recently voiced their decision to prioritise their personal space amidst relentless exhaustion due to a heavy workload and jam-packed schedule throughout the year. Earlier in the day, New Zealand's spearhead Trent Boult was dropped from the central contract by the country's cricket board after the left-arm pacer requested to spend more time with his family. Not to forget England's Test captain Ben Stokes, who recently announced his retirement from the ODI format due to a heavy workload.
