Australian women’s cricket team captain Meg Lanning made headlines once again after leading her side to win the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games 2022, when she announced that she will be taking an indefinite break for personal reasons on August 10. However, keeping her CWG 2022 gold medal victory or her announcement aside, she has been one of the standout performers for Australia in the last couple of years and is a well-known name among cricket enthusiasts.

However, despite Lanning being a multi-time World Cup winner, she often does not get the recognition she deserves. Apart from her success as the captain of the Australian women’s cricket team, she has been a consistent performer as well, setting up several records in her career. Let’s take a look at who Meg Lanning is and how she reached the top.

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Born on March 25, 1992, in Singapore to Wayne and Sue, they relocated to Thornleigh, a suburb of Sydney. Meg began her schooling at Warrawee Public School and picked up an interest in cricket when she was 10. Meg represented New South Wales at the primary school level along with future national teammate Ellyse Perry. She idolised former Australian men’s cricket team captain Ricky Ponting and Paul Kelly from her childhood.

Her family later moved to the Melbourne area, where she enrolled at Carey Baptist Grammar School. It was here when she first came to attention when she became the first girl to play First XI cricket for an Associated Public Schools side.

She later pursued a Bachelor’s degree at the Australian Catholic University, which she graduated in 2019.

However, her story received a boost in 2010, when she made her international debut in a T20I match against New Zealand at Saxton Oval on December 30. Meg went on to make her ODI debut on January 5, 2011, against England. She scored her first ODI century only two days later, on January 7, scoring 103 off 118 balls against the English.

She made her Test debut on August 11, 2013, in the women’s Ashes. However, she has since played five more Test matches only. Meg also went on to win the Women’s Cricket World Cup in the same year.

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Lanning became Australia’s youngest-ever captain on January 19, 2014, against England in the Ashes. In the next month, she was handed over the T20 captaincy permanently. In June 2014, she became the Australian women’s cricket team captain in all three formats.

Since then, she has led Australia to three more T20 World Cup victories, one more ICC Women’s World Cup title and the gold medal in the Commonwealth Games 2022. Lanning was adjudged as the ICC Women’s ODI and T20 Cricketer of the Year in 2015 and 2014 respectively. She has also won several other honours in her accomplished career and continues to inspire thousands of aspiring cricketers all around the world.