The Australian captain Meg Lanning celebrates her 29th birthday today and what a player she has been over the years. Often called “Megastar”, she made her international debut in 2010 at just 18 years of age when she played against New Zealand in a T20I at Nelson.
The Journey into International Cricket
Opening the batting, she scored 10 runs off 8 balls, including a six. Since then, the Singapore-born cricketer has seen ups and downs and every time managed to rise when the tides were down.
A year later in 2011, she made her ODI debut against England in Perth. Again she opened the innings and this time managed to score 20 off 38, including two boundaries. A couple of years later in 2013, Lanning made her Test debut also against England at Wormsley during the Ashes. As an opener, she scored 48 and 36 in the two innings of her debut Test match.
Though she started off as an opener, as years passed, she became the regular number three for Australia and has scored runs in bulk.
Meg Lanning’s Career stats:
Lanning has been around for over a decade now and has appeared in 4 Tests, 82 ODIs, and 107 T20Is. In her eight Test innings, she has scored 185 at an average of 23.12. Her limited overs’ stats are mindblowing. The right-hand bat has 3856 runs in 82 ODI innings at a stellar average of 55.08, including 14 centuries and 15 half-centuries. Her conversion rate is second to none in women’s cricket. Lanning holds the record for the most Women’s One Day International centuries. She is the only batter to average in excess of 55 and score more than 3000 ODI runs.
She is the third-highest run-scorer for the Australian Women’s side in ODI cricket. In the shortest format of the game too, she has some extraordinary numbers. Closing in on 3000 T20I runs in 101 innings at an average of 36.18 and strike rate of 115.98, she is currently the third-highest run-getter in women’s T20Is. In fact, Lanning has the highest average among the top five highest run-scorers in T20Is. For her consistent and wonderful batting performances, she has won ICC Women’s ODI cricketer of the year in 2015 and ICC Women’s T2oI cricketer of the year in 2014.
Apart from being a prolific batter, Lanning has been a successful captain for Australia. She took over the reins of ODI captainship in January 2014 and T20I captaincy in February 2014, becoming Australia’s youngest ever captain. Under her leadership, Australia has won three ICC Women’s World T20 titles in 2014, 2018, 2020.
As the iconic player turns 29 today, we at Female Cricket wish Meg Lanning loads of success and hope that she continues to serve women’s cricket the way she has for over the years.
Happy 29th Birthday Meg Lanning
Wishing a very Happy Birthday to the Mega-Hitter – Meghann Moira Lanning 🙌🔥#HappyBirthday pic.twitter.com/HuGqCSkj4l
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) March 25, 2021
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I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.
