A look at some of the most outrageous numbers from Meg Lanning’s journey as an international cricketer, after the 31-year-old called it a day on Thursday, November 9.
76 – matches in which Meg Lanning led Australia Women to wins, a record in T20Is (Men’s or Women’s). Her 100 matches as captain is also the joint most in the format alongside Harmanpreet Kaur and the outstanding record is rounded off by a stunning win-loss ratio of 4.22.
4 – Women’s T20 World Cup titles won by Meg Lanning as captain is a world record, no other captain – male or female – has done that more than twice. Overall, she won five Women’s T20 World Cup finals as a player, the joint second most alongside teammate Ellyse Perry, which is bettered only by wicket-keeper Alyssa Healy (6). Lanning also led Australia to a Gold Medal finish in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year, rounding off a phenomenal run as a T20I captain.
16 – consecutive T20Is Australia won under Meg Lanning between 25 March 2014 and 22 August 2015, a record in T20Is (Men’s or Women’s) until Thailand Women went one better between July 2018 and August 2019.
8.62– Lanning had a scarcely believable win-loss ratio as an ODI captain, leading Australia to 69 wins in 78 matches. Only Belinda Clark led Australia Women in more ODIs (101).
Lanning also featured in two Women’s World Cup wins for Australia, the first as a player in 2013 in India, before leading the side to their seventh title win in the most recent edition in New Zealand last year.
Overall Lanning led Australia Women in 182 international matches (100 T20Is, 78 ODIs and four Tests). In fact, she remains the only player to lead Australia in ODIs and T20Is before turning 22 in white-ball cricket, having first taken over the role in January 2014, and became Australia’s youngest Women Test captain during the following year’s Ashes Test in Canterbury, aged 23 years and 139 days.
26 – consecutive wins by Australia Women in ODIs between 12 March 2018 and 24 September 2021, the longest such streak in ODIs – Men’s or Women’s. Lanning led Australia in 24 matches in this sequence.
53.51 – The batting average for Meg Lanning, the highest among the 85 players who have aggregated at least 1200 runs in the Women’s ODIs, marginally ahead of Beth Mooney who currently has 2137 runs at 53.42. In fact, of the 11 players to have scored at least 4,000 runs in Women’s ODIs, Mithali Raj (7805 runs at 50.68) is the only other with a 50-plus average.
15– hundreds by Meg Lanning in ODIs is the most by a player in the Women’s game, followed by 12 by New Zealand’s Suzie Bates and nine each by England’s Tammy Beaumont and Charlotte Edwards. She scored 11 of them as captain, Bates being the next best with eight. Each of Lanning’s 15 ODI tons came in a winning cause. Overall, she has 17 hundreds across formats, a record in the Women’s game, followed by 13 each by Bates and Charlotte Edwards.
10– hundreds scored by Lanning in ODI run-chases is another distant record, well clear of Amy Satterthwaite’s tally of 5.
152* off 135 balls scored by Lanning against Sri Lanka Women in a 2017 Women’s World Cup game in Bristol remains the highest individual score in run-chases. Such was the right-hander’s dominance in run-chases that she holds three of the top five spots in this list.
3549 – runs scored by Lanning as captain is the third highest in Women’s ODIs after Mithali Raj’s 5319 and Belinda Clark’s 4150. Lanning averaged 57.24 while leading in the format.
18y 288d – Lanning registered her maiden ODI hundred in just her second appearance, against England in Perth in 2011, making her the youngest Australia Women cricketer to register a three-digit score in the format. The overall record belongs to Ireland’s Amy Hunter, who registered a hundred on her 16th birthday against Zimbabwe Women in Harare in October 2021.
45 – balls taken by Lanning to complete her hundred against New Zealand Women at the North Sydney Oval in 2012, making it thefastest hundred in Women’s ODIs (by balls taken).
3405 – runs scored by Lanning in T20Is is second only behind Suzie Bates’ 4021 in the Women’s game. Of the 13 players who have totalled at least 2500 runs in the format, her average of 36.61 is bettered only by Beth Mooney (39.8).
1191 – runs scored by Lanning in the Women’s Ashes (across formats) is fifth highest for anyone, and the second most for Australia after Elysse Perry’s 1894.
