‘India at home a really good challenge’ – Meg Lanning
Meg Lanning, returning to the Australia Women team after around seven months out because of a shoulder problem that required surgery, said she was “looking forward” to the upcoming tour of India where her team will play three one-day internationals and then a triangular Twenty20 International series also featuring England.
Lanning’s last game for Australia was the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 semi-final against India, which her team lost by 36 runs, and she has since missed the Women's Ashes series and the Women's Big Bash League.
Expressing her excitement, Lanning, 25, said, “Really looking forward to it. It's been a long seven months. It was tough watching the Ashes but I have put in a lot of hard work and I'm very happy to be back.”
Lanning, still at No. 2 and No. 4 among batters in the MRF Tyres ICC Women’s ODI and T20I Player Rankings respectively, suggested that she was still working on getting back to the kind of form that made her such a nightmare for bowlers.
“I've been batting in the nets so I guess that is making the transition into matches for me, but to definitely be able to bat unrestricted is what I am looking forward to,” she said. “It won't be probably 100 per cent in the field, I definitely believe it will be at a level that's good enough to contribute to the team. So there might not be any issues there.”
Following Alex Blackwell's retirement, Rachael Haynes, who led Australia as they retained the Women’s Ashes title, has been named as Australia's vice-captain.
“I've been batting in the nets so I guess that is making the transition into matches for me, but to definitely be able to bat unrestricted is what I am looking forward to,” she said. “It won't be probably 100 per cent in the field, I definitely believe it will be at a level that's good enough to contribute to the team. So there might not be any issues there.”
“Alex has been a great Australian cricketer with what she has been able to achieve. Obviously, we will miss having her within our Australian cricket,” said Lanning. “Rachael Haynes stepping in as vice-captain, so I am looking forward to working with her. I thought she did a great job during the Ashes to lead the team. So I think we will really work well together.”
Australia will play two warm-up matches in India prior to the ODI series. “I think the two warm-up matches will be crucial. The whole team will just get used to the conditions by playing together. It’s been a little ways since the Ashes so it is important for us to be able to play.”
Lanning, who has 2999 runs including 11 centuries against her name from 63 ODIs, was happy to go back to India, where the “decks are pretty good” and “the outfields are lightning fast”, and said she had been keeping an eye on Mithali Raj’s team during their 2-1 ODI series win in South Africa.
“I've been following it a little bit. I've seen the results and the performances,” she said. “I think it is confirmed that they are a really good side and we have to play really well in order to beat them. Coming up against India in their home conditions will be a really good challenge for us. They have done well against South Africa away from home. I think they'll be better in their home conditions so looking forward to that.”
Then come the T20Is, where apart from the might of India, Australia will also have to contend with England, the ODI world champions who won the T20I leg of the Women’s Ashes 2-1.
“It's a great opportunity for us to come up against another good team in mutual conditions, which is what happened in the World Cup. In the T20s during the Ashes, we were pretty close and played some good cricket so I've got no doubt that it's going to be the same in India,” said Lanning.