Saturday, 14 June 2014 00:00
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Meg Lanning has been confirmed as Australia’s one-day international captain and will succeed Jodie Fields, who announced her retirement on Thursday. Alex Blackwell has been named as the vice-captain under Lanning, who led Australia to the World T20 title in Bangladesh earlier this year.
Lanning, now 22, had also stepped in as interim captain during the Ashes series earlier this year, making her the youngest person, male or female, ever to captain an Australia national cricket side. Julie Savage, the chair of the women’s national selection panel, said Lanning was widely respected by her team-mates and the team management.
“As a young captain, Meg performed extremely well in the recent 2014 women’s Ashes series and the 2014 Women’s World T20 in Bangladesh,” Savage said. “During her time as T20 captain Meg proved her leadership skills and capability. She has very good tactical ability, is an aspirational leader and manages relationships well. She is also widely respected by her peers and team management.
“Alex (Blackwell) is a very experienced leader within the team. When she has previously held the positions of captain and vice-captain, Alex has demonstrated proven leadership capacity. Alex has played an important mentoring role for Meg during the early phases of her captaincy. She will continue to be a great support to Meg. Their skill sets complement each other and will allow the group to reach their potential.”
Lanning said that while she had a lot to learn about captaincy, she was looking forward to the challenge. “I think we’ve got a great group together and it is certainly a privilege to lead your country,” Lanning said. “I think I still have a lot to learn so it’s a good challenge and something that I’m really looking forward to and hopefully we can have some good team success.”
