Meg Lanning is never a big giver. An intensely private person, she is known for predictable answers in interviews and her dislike of team meetings. She is a woman of few words and has come across as a cricketing machine over the years.
Apart from a brief spell on the sidelines with shoulder surgery after the 2017 World Cup, Lanning has been an ever-present figure in the game since making his debut in late 2010 as an 18-year-old. Throughout her time with the team, the profile of women’s cricket has risen exponentially, exposing Lanning to higher levels of media and public attention, something she never seemed to feel comfortable with a player she preferred let his actions be done on the cricket field. the talk
It was perhaps surprising, then, that she was asked to take on more responsibility and visibility in January 2014 when, following the retirement of Jodie Fields, Lanning was brought into the captaincy at the age of 21, having never held a senior leadership level before The marketing contract that Lanning received – along with Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy and Holly Ferling – to essentially be the faces of women’s cricket in Australia led to even more time in the public eye and more pressure to be one of the ‘girls of “gold” of Australia. sport
This pressure only increased in the wake of the sandpaper scandal involving Australia’s men’s team in 2018, when cricket’s own culture was called into question and Cricket Australia quickly turned to its brilliant women’s team, which had never been caught up in any scandal. in an attempt to distract from the men’s bad behavior.
The accumulation of all this – the roles in front of the public, the increased visibility of the sport and the pressure to maintain not only the performance of the team, but its clean image – may have led to this point. Lanning is taking an indefinite break from cricket. In a written statement, he put it as briefly and succinctly as anyone would expect.
“After a busy couple of years, I’ve made the decision to take a step back to allow myself time to focus on myself,” she said. “I am grateful for the support of CA and my teammates and ask that my privacy be respected during this time.”
We may never know exactly why Lanning is taking this break. We don’t have to wait either. But unlike many of his counterparts in a number of sports who have taken breaks, it doesn’t seem likely that Lanning will give a revealing interview about his struggles, or even just clarify that he really wants to spend the summer in the beach instead of a cricket ground for once in a lifetime.
Meg Lanning leaps over Jess Jonassen and Alyssa Healy after Australia won gold at the Commonwealth Games. Photo: Dave Hunt/EPA
However, the reason for Lanning’s breakup isn’t necessarily important. What matters are the lessons that can be learned from a player at the top of his game who needs time off. For someone so rooted in cricket, who seems to enjoy being in the middle with the bat in hand, that you will need to step back and take time out for whatever reason is something worth pondering.
The professionalism of women’s cricket, and women’s sport in general, has come quite quickly and, while it has not yet reached the levels of men’s sport, it is in stark contrast to what a young Lanning would have experienced in her first days in the world equipment With bigger salaries naturally come more expectations: more touring, more public appearances, more media time.
For a man who goes through the high performance ways, this is understood and expected. They are prepared for the pressures of public life and know exactly what they are getting into. For young women who entered the arena in the amateur era and have gone professional, it’s more like the proverbial frog in the kettle. The water started out cold, but over time it slowly rose to boiling without anyone noticing the difference it would make.
The increased professionalism of women’s sport is unequivocally a good thing. But a player of Lanning’s stature needing to call for a break should send alarm bells ringing throughout professional women’s sports. It should cause organizations to look at their schedules and ask themselves the question: Are we allowing enough breaks so that our players don’t have to publicly go down to get some rest?
Hopefully Lanning will be back in time, refreshed and ready to once again destroy opposition bowling attacks with her cover. But maybe this time she, and the other working women she captains, will have more rest and recovery built into their schedules to stay on top for as long as they want.