Meg Lanning retirement, WBBL, Melbourne Stars, news, video

Growing up, I was told that if I wanted to learn how to play a pull shot, just watch Ricky Ponting.

For the cover drive, find videos of Ian Bell. The forward defence? Rahul Dravid.

But when learning to play a cut stoke, the next generation of Australian cricketers will analyse footage of Meg Lanning.

It was the right-hander’s trademark shot. To negate the threat of Lanning’s cut stroke, England captain Heather Knight would place three players between gully and cover — yet Lanning would somehow thread the needle every time.

“We had three point fielders, and she’s found a way to get it through,” Knight laughed on Thursday, speaking to reporters following Lanning’s retirement announcement.

“It was quite frustrating.”

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Lanning’s cricket CV is well-documented, boasting an unrivalled list of accolades and achievements in the sport. Across her 13-year career, she lifted seven World Cups, five as captain, won three Belinda Clark Awards and led Australia to Commonwealth Games glory in Birmingham last year. No women’s cricketer has more hundreds to their name, while her ODI batting average of 53.51 is a class above any of her rivals.

However, Lanning will be most fondly remembered for the elegance and beauty of her strokeplay, along with her leadership of cricket’s most dominant team since Bradman’s Invincibles. The Victorian captained Australia in 146 victories across formats, a record in women’s international cricket, with the team winning 80 per cent of matches under her guidance.

“When she was in full flow, she was just impossible to stop,” Knight continued.

“Wherever we bowled, it seemed to fly to the boundary.

“She had that sort of steely look in her eyes quite often. Run chases, she was almost impossible to stop if you didn’t get her out early.

“She’s a legend of the Aussie game.”

Most matches as Australian captain

323 — Ricky Ponting

271 — Allan Border

182 — Meg Lanning

163 — Steve Waugh

139 — Michael Clarke

During Thursday morning’s press conference at the MCG, a teary-eyed Lanning confirmed this year’s triumphant T20 World Cup final in South Africa would be her last match in Australian colours.

It was confronting to see an athlete who had seldom let emotions get the better of her on the field break down in tears while confessing she had lost the drive to play international cricket to the best of her abilities.

“I’ve got nothing left to achieve on the international stage,” Lanning said.

“I can’t be half in or half out with anything.

“I no longer have the spark or motivation to do what’s needed at this level. For me, it’s time to move on.

“I’ve been trying to convince a little bit the last 18 months why I should keep playing and what it is I want to achieve. I’ve battled away a little bit trying to work all that out. It ­became quite clear, particularly over the last couple of days, that this was the right call and what I’m ready for. It’s time.”

Across her ten years as Australian captain, she was always stoic, composed and resilient; teammates have repeatedly spoken about how at ease they felt while Lanning was batting at the other end.

One of those teammates, former Australian batter Alex Blackwell, combined with Lanning for 932 runs in canary yellow, getting a first-hand glimpse of her brilliance with the willow.

“(She’s) technically unparalleled, and we could all see that from the beginning,” Blackwell told reporters on Thursday.

“It was great watching her, especially from the non-striker’s end.”

Blackwell identified three moments that, in her eyes, stood out as career highlights, the first coming more than a decade ago. In December 2012, Lanning battered the White Ferns to all corners of the picturesque North Sydney Oval, racing towards a 45-ball century, which remains a record.

She clobbered 18 fours and three sixes throughout her Kiwi demolition, meaning 90 of her 103 runs came in boundaries.

“You just went ‘How is this possible?’ She’s just absolutely belting it, making the bowlers look average, when they’re not, they’re some of the best in the world,” Blackwell recalled.

“She was hitting them over their head, putting holes in the sightscreen almost with the power she was hitting down the ground.”

Two years later, Lanning smacked a 65-ball 126 against Ireland in Sylhet, a blistering performance that featured 18 boundaries and four sixes. It remains the highest individual score in Women’s T20 World Cups, and Blackwall was lucky enough to watch the carnage unfold from the non-striker’s end.

“I remember trying to give her as much of the strike as much as possible,” Blackwell laughed.

“To be up the other end and give Meg a big hug at the end when she got that hundred, I look back on that very fondly.”

Lastly, Blackwell mentioned the unforgettable 2020 T20 World Cup campaign on home soil — but perhaps not for the reason you’d expect.

During a group-stage contest against Sri Lanka in Perth, the Australians were in dire straits at 3-10 when Rachael Haynes joined Lanning in the middle, chasing an awkward target for 123 for victory. Having lost the tournament opener against India, Australia couldn’t afford to drop another match.

The experienced duo combined for a 95-run partnership for the fourth wicket to put Australia within touching distance of the target. Ellyse Perry hit the winning runs, with Lanning desperately scampering through at the non-striker’s end to clinch a tense five-wicket win.

Lying on the ground, covered in dirt and grass after diving to make her ground, the Australian captain celebrated with a fist bump, finishing unbeaten on 41 (44).

It wasn’t the flashiest knock of her career, but perhaps the most important.

“The team was under pressure,” Blackwell recalled.

“She dives in for the final run and does this fist pump. We’ve never lost a cricket game to Sri Lanka, but her emotion, I loved seeing that.

“If you could pick out a moment in her career, that’s got to be up there, leading the team with the team under pressure.

“(They had) a bit of luck in that tournament, but they got the job done in front of 87,000 people. That must have felt very, very good.”

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Lanning was the face of Australian women’s cricket during the sport’s most significant evolution — she couldn’t make a living off cricket when she took over the captaincy in 2013, but now, high-profile players can earn in excess of $1 million annually.

“I played all my junior cricket in boys teams and now there’s so many options for young girls and boys to play,” Lanning said.

“I hope that young girls have followed my journey a little bit and have been positively influenced to go out there and chase their dreams and see what’s possible.”

Lanning will continue playing domestic cricket for Victoria and the Melbourne Stars. The one feat she has never achieved is winning a Women’s Big Bash League title, which will no doubt be front and foremost in her mind over the coming weeks.

“She has inspired so many people, and there wasn’t much left to achieve. She’s done it all,” Blackwell said.

“She’s been an incredible inspiration. Whatever she does, I think she’s the sort of person that wants to do things 100 per cent, so it’ll be sad not seeing her at that Aussie level because she has been an absolute force.

“I wish her all the best in what she does, I hope she plays a lot of cricket still.”

The Stars will next face the Sydney Thunder at North Sydney Oval on Friday, with the first ball scheduled for 3.20pm AEDT.