T20 World Cup can be a turning point for women’s sport: Lanning

By Meg Lanning

There are a few hurdles to get over before we can think about the MCG, but to play there in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Final, on International Women’s Day, would be amazing for all of us.

We’re very aware of what we need to do to get there, there’s a lot of hard work involved and we need to make sure we start off well in that first game against India and go from there. There are no guarantees in this sport.

This tournament can be a real turning point for women’s sport around the world, it’s a really big event, there’s a lot of talk around it – certainly more hype than I’ve ever experienced before – so hopefully that’s a sign of everyone jumping on board and getting involved. Hopefully we can look back on this tournament as a real moment from which women’s sport takes off.

We’ve been very successful in T20 World Cups in the past and a lot of that is down to how we’ve been able to evolve as a team. We haven’t relied on one or two players, we’ve got a lot of depth and the young players that come in have always shown what they’re capable of.

We’ve got a really good squad again and we’re going to need all 15 of those players to play a part in getting the result we want. It’s a huge honour to be able to lead this team, it’s a great group of players and people who put in a lot of hard work together, we’ve got a group who make my job really easy.

Preparation is going really well, it’s nice to be back together as a group as it had been a while since we’d played together, fine-tuning a few things before we get going. We know the conditions well; we’ve played at a lot of these grounds before and hopefully we have the advantage of having the crowd on our side.

I’m captain of this side but when I go out to bat, I’m just a batter looking to contribute for my team. I look to score as many runs as I can every time I go out there and hope I can contribute some big scores and performances for this team.

World Cups carry pressure and expectation for any team – and being at home doesn’t make it any different for us or any other side. We want to make sure that we’re enjoying the moment and embracing everything that comes with it. We’re not daunted by that; we want to take it on and focus on what we can control.

So far, we’ve done that well and we’ve put ourselves in a good position to carry that on. This tournament could also see me play my 100th T20I for Australia, which would be a great moment personally. Just playing one game for your country is a really special moment so to have the chance to pass 100, in a home World Cup, is very special.

I love playing for Australia and being part of this team – so when you’re enjoying what you do, reaching a milestone like that is just an added bonus.

This article was first published on the International Cricket Council (ICC) website.