New Delhi, Oct 13 (IANS) Australian legend Meg Lanning returns as the captain for the upcoming Women’s Big Bash League season 12 as she takes over the reins of Melbourne Stars from Annabel Sutherland.
Lanning, who led Stars in five seasons previously, left the captaincy before WBBL 10, when Sutherland took over the role and led in two seasons. However, Sutherland has now left the role to lighten her responsibilities as Lanning returns at the helm.
The club’s new coach Richard Pyrah highlighted the courage Sutherland showed to relinquish the role and heaped praise on Lanning to take over the responsibility. “It takes a lot of courage and humility for Annabel to recognise that the best thing for the team is for her to focus on her performance and stand aside from the captaincy,” Pyrah said.
“The easy thing would be for her to keep the title and continue on, but this move just speaks volumes of her character. We’ll no doubt see the best version of Annabel, which we’ve seen so often on the global stage, for the Stars this season.
“I’ve been equally as impressed by Meg’s attitude in embracing the new opportunity. She has captained this team before, but there is a real emphasis on Meg, Annabel and Kim sharing the workload as leaders this season,” he added.
Stars made it to the knockouts last season under Sutherland and now would fancy their chances of taking further strides this season, which begins on October 28.
Lanning reflected on taking over the role, admitting that she did not expect the leadership hat to return to her but embraced the role with open arms.
“It wasn’t on my radar to captain again, but I want to do what’s best to help the team win,” Lanning said. “We’ve had discussions as senior players about how we can work together to lead the team rather than it all falling on one person.
“We want to get the best out of each player, and we think this is the best way to do that, so I’m happy to take on this role,” she added.
Sutherland has been in stellar form this season and has made runs across the tournaments. She scored a Test century early in January and then played a key role in Australia winning the T20 World Cup in July, before also scoring runs in the Women’s Hundred and being named as the Player of the Tournament.
“I’ve loved captaining the Stars these past two seasons, and I’m really keen to continue to be a leader this season and keep developing my skills in that space,” Sutherland said.
“I really want to contribute to the team’s success in the best way I can, and I think by sharing the load with the leadership, I can hopefully make a bigger impact with the bat and ball.
“We know we are in great hands with Meg – she knows the game as well as anyone and has had so much success as a captain. It’s going to be a great chance to spend another season working together, alongside Rich, who I just spent a season with in The Hundred,” she added.
–IANS
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