Australia Women captain Meg Lanning, who recently led the team to the gold medal in the Commonwealth Games, is taking an indefinite break from cricket, Cricket Australia (CA) announced in a statement on Wednesday. "Australia Women's Team captain, Meg Lanning has advised Cricket Australia (CA) that she will take a period of indefinite leave effective immediately," CA wrote in its statement. She will miss this year's edition of The Hundred and a decision on her participation in Australia's home summer will be taken later, the board said.
"After a busy couple of years, I've made the decision take a step back to enable me to spend time focusing on myself," Lanning was quoted as saying in the statement.
"I'm grateful for the support of CA and my teammates and ask that my privacy is respected during this time."
"We're proud of Meg for acknowledging that she needs a break and will continue to support her during this time," the Australian women's team's head of performance, Shawn Flegler, was quoted as saying.
"She's been an incredible contributor to Australian cricket over the last decade, achieving remarkable feats both individually and as part of the team, and has been a brilliant role model for young kids," he said.
"The welfare of our players is always our number one priority, and we'll continue to work with Meg to ensure she gets the support and space she needs."
Lanning has two World Cup titles and four T20 World Cup titles to her name. Out of these, she was captain in one of the 50-over campaign triumphs and three editions in the shortest format.
She also led Australia to ultimate glory at CWG 2022, which was the first time women's T20s were included in the Games.