No captain within the historical past of cricket has lifted extra World Cup trophies than Meg Lanning, who has been hailed as “one of the greatest leaders not just in cricket, but in sport” within the wake of Australia’s epic sixth T20 World Cup triumph.
Central to probably the most profitable nationwide groups in world sport, Lanning has been on the helm for 5 World Cup wins, together with two prior to now 12 months, which is greater than some other, man or girl, ever.
In the final 12 months Lanning has lifted two World Cup trophies, collected the first-ever Commonwealth Games gold medal and brought six months off by way of a self-imposed break, which some thought might have been the tip of her wonderful profession.
But the 30-year-old, who has been main Australia for nearly a decade, returned and thrived, main a crew pushed purchase a tradition the place “egos are checked” and now assumes her personal place in cricket historical past, surpassing fellow Aussie Ricky Ponting for many World Cup wins as captain.
“When Meg retires, hopefully not for a few more years … I think she’ll go down as one of the greatest leaders not just in cricket, but in sport, and just generally as well,” star Australian opener and player-of-the match within the win over South Africa, Beth Mooney mentioned.
“I think she’s got an immense cricket brain. She’s cool, calm and collected under pressure and she’s got empathy as well; she understands how people feel in certain situations because she’s been there before and she’s experienced a lot as a person, as a leader and as a cricketer.
“So absolutely she’ll go down as one of the greatest ever for our team and we’re very lucky to have her.”
Veteran seamer Megan Schutt mentioned Lanning’s pre-game rev-up in Cape Town typified what the event imply to the captain, and her means to seize that for her crew.
“I feel as a result of she‘s a pretty calm character kind of rubs off on us,” Schutt said.
“She presents this calmness. I mean, her chat before this game was cool because it was a bit more ampie, a few swear words in there – Meg doesn‘t swear a lot! – so that was really cool.
“She‘s been a leader for so long that she knows what people need to succeed — whether that’s individually or as a crew.”
Australia has now gained six of the previous eight T20 World Cup titles, together with the previous three, and is the primary crew ever to carry the ODI World Cup and Commonwealth Games gold medal title on the identical time.
Lanning herself has now led Australia to 4 T20 World Cup titles and one ODI World Cup title and has collected extra ICC match wins than some other captain in males’s or girls’s cricket.
But the thirst for titles is endless, in keeping with Mooney, as a result of this Australian crew desires to win “as many as there is out there”.
“We don’t get tired of it; something we speak about as a group is making sure we’re always evolving along the way,” she mentioned.
“I think we’ve seen in this tournament there are teams around the world getting better and better as the years go on and we know that we’re being hunted.
“People are looking out at us for what we do and how we go about it, so certainly it won’t last forever, but we’ll enjoy it for as long as we can and hopefully we can keep piling up those trophies and enjoying what’s great.”
Mooney mentioned the key to the Australian crew’s success was the concept that “we’re all here for the greater good” the place the crew is positioned above the person in each occasion.
That got here to the fore through the ultimate the place Mooney, who was annoyed and felt like she was struggling at 25 runs from 25 balls early in her innings, advised coach Shelley Nitschke ought to retire her.
But that message, given to the drinks-carrier, by no means made it to the coach and Mooney went on to make an unbeaten 74 from 53 deliveries,
“I actually asked one of the girls who ran out if she could ask Shell if she wanted to retire me because I was hitting it that bad,” Mooney mentioned.
“That didn’t quite make it to Shell.
“I think I just strive off being able to grit and fight and probably go through those tough innings that don‘t feel as good but perhaps get the teams over the line that I play for.
“So hopefully I’ve still got a few years left in me and can score a few more runs but at the moment I’m loving it and as I said, it’s an absolute privilege to put the Australian shirt on every morning when I wake up.”
Originally revealed as Meg Lanning lauded after setting new file for many World Cup wins as captain
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au
