Two years after her unexpected exit from international cricket, Meg Lanning has entered Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) 11 carrying an energy that feels unmistakably renewed. Teammates have sensed it, rivals felt the full force of it, and her 74-ball 135 against Sydney Sixers at North Sydney Oval confirmed it for everyone else.
This season, the 33-year-old has struck a rare equilibrium—one shaped by reduced commitments, rediscovered joy, and subtle but decisive evolution in her game. The result has been a ruthless run of form: 288 runs, a strike rate of 163.63, and scores of 60, 90*, 3 and 135, placing her atop the competition’s run charts.
Those watching Lanning this year have noticed a shift: relaxed off the field, razor-focused on it. The contrast is a product of freedom—freedom from national team duties, freedom from expectation, and, crucially, freedom to play on her own terms.
After her century at North Sydney Oval, she articulated this rebirth with unusual clarity. Before her explanation, she framed the urgency behind her transformation, “I want to dominate,” she said shortly after dismantling the Sixers on November 20th.
She continued by outlining the internal recalibration that had been required to get there, “I felt like if I wanted to do that then I had to evolve and add a few things so I could get it back on my terms.”
Then she clarified that the transformation had been as much psychological as technical, “There are a few subtle changes, but a lot of it is around mindset as well.”
This season, Lanning has been working closely with Glenn Maxwell, brought in as an assistant coach with Melbourne Stars. Their conversations, she has suggested, have helped her sharpen the clarity she now carries to the crease.
Remaining a Victoria-contracted player has kept her connected to elite training structures, offering year-round professionalism without the relentless demands of international travel. That hybrid lifestyle—balancing the WNCL, the WBBL, The Hundred, and the WPL—has proved transformative.
The results have been clear. In August, she finished as the second-highest run-scorer in The Hundred, compiling 287 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 136.66 for the Oval Invincibles. She has carried that rhythm directly into the WBBL 11.
Lanning’s international career remains one of the most decorated in world cricket: two ODI World Cups, six T20 World Cups, and Commonwealth Games gold. Yet the one arena where success has consistently eluded her is the WBBL.
With her scintillating WBBL form, Lanning enters the WPL auction on November 27th as one of the marquee names. She was not retained by the Delhi Capitals and now lists at a base price of INR 50 Lacs. Given her current run, she is widely expected to emerge among the highest earners on auction day.
Meg Lanning’s WBBL|11 campaign is more than a resurgence—it is the product of deliberate recalibration, restored joy, and a renewed desire to dominate. This is not the Lanning of her international prime; this is an evolved version—lighter, freer, and yet every bit as destructive.
Two years after stepping back from the world stage, she has rediscovered the perfect balance. And with it, she is rewriting what the twilight of a great career can look like.
(Quotes sourced from cricket.com.au)
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