Meg Lanning retirement: The story behind Australian captain’s tears, and what made her a champion

There has been a degree of mystery over Meg Lannings future – and why she’s walked away at just 31. Robert Craddock delves deeper into the sudden exit for an Australian great.

The tears which ran down her cheeks were as revealing as any spoken word at Meg Lanning’s farewell press conference.

For a prosperous decade as her country’s cricket captain, she’s been duty bound to keep her inner most feelings tightly hidden away and Meg held them tighter than most.

Never did she have an undignified public moment, always the same even, calm, unemotional person in victory or defeat, good days or bad.

The tears that flowed represented the cross-over period from one life to the next.

It’s over. Done. The guard’s been thrown away.

The player who this time last year worked in a Melbourne coffee shop because she wanted to smell real life roses can now do whatever she wants.

Retiring cricket star Meg Lanning wipes away a tear as she speaks to the media. Picture: Getty

It was almost a relief to see her let go, particularly after all these years of pressure and incredibly high expectations which come with her team being the All Blacks of women’s cricket – so good that they were bigger news when they lost than when they won.

It’s true over the past year there has been a degree of mystery over Lanning’s future and now, over her exit from the game at age 31.

She was a late withdrawal from this year’s Ashes series for personal reasons after taking a break from the game last year and her absence has never been explained though friends say after the 2022 World Cup win in New Zealand she struggled to find her next Mt Everest.

No matter what the full story, her declarations that she has nothing left to achieve and that he cannot be “half in, half out’’ surely tell a fair slice of the story.

Lanning said she had nothing left to give the game, as she retired from international cricket. Picture: Getty

Lanning captained Australia at age 21, a year younger than South Africa’s Test skipper Graeme Smith who once said “I had no regrets but a little part of your youth is take from you and disappears forever when you are a young captain … you can’t just be one of the gang.’’

Lanning would have known the feeling.

She started her captaincy when some of her teammates were earning pocket money and rushing between work and play and finished it with the best of them pocketing $700,000 a year.

The profile of her team increased five fold during her time with a spotless reputation she embodied.

Under Meg Lanning’s leadership, Australia won everything in its path celebrates with the trophy after Australia won the 2022 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup Final match between Australia and England at Hagley Oval on April 03, 2022 in Christchurch, New Zealand. (Photo by Phil Walter-ICC/ICC via Getty Images). Picture: Getty

Lanning’s retirement will be celebrated globally by gully and point fielders who will not have to dive left right and crooked for her honey sweet cut shots which were so good that coaches like Matt Mott used to tell male players “hey, if you want to see how to play a cut shot …’’

Allan Border once said if you are going to captain your country for more than five years you better be prepared to have the game turn you inside out.

Border and Lanning did it for a decade. Both escaped with their sanity but the toll should not be underestimated.

Lanning received plenty of plaudits for her captaincy and some of the most notable have been behind closed doors.

Shawn Flegler, selection chairman of the national women’s team, is a friend and former teammate of former Queensland opening batsman Andrew Courtice who has told Flegler on several occasions “Lanning is the best captain (male or female) in Australia.’’

A true Megastar in every sense.

Originally published as Meg Lanning retirement: The story behind Australian captain’s tears, and what made her a champion