A 22 years old girl, who has made her debut in T20I cricket four years ago, made it to the limelight on this day in 2014 and she’s none other than Meg Lanning. Six years ago, Australia went on to win their third consecutive World T20 title and this time, under a new leader. This young leader was preceded by Jodie Field (2010) and Alex Blackwell (2012).
Australia started their journey with a defeat against arch-rivals New Zealand, where they lost by 7 runs. But they came back strong against South Africa and opened their winning streak by 6 wickets which continued till the World Cup victory. But the tip of their journey came against Ireland on this day (27th March) when their young leader, Meg Lanning, hit a knock to reckon with.
Winning the toss, Meg decided to bat first. Australia lost Alyssa Healy in the 3rd over. Lanning took her time to settle down and once she did, it was carnage at Sylhet Stadium. John Arlott once wrote that ‘Australianism’ means single-minded determination to win. That determination was shown against the stronger and the weaker team without giving the opposition a chance to come back.
Meg who can be seen as the apostle of that Australianism hit 3 boundaries each to 15 years old seamer Lucy O’Reilly and Eimear Richardson in 11th and 13th over. From 18 off 17, she reached 47 off 30 balls in space of 3 overs. She hit Laura Delany a six to complete her half-century in 33 balls.
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After the fall of Nicola Carey, Meg became more aggressive and picked up 20 runs from an over of Eimear Richardson including 2 sixes which took her to 97 runs. In the 18th over, she hit a boundary in the very first ball she faced and completed her century in 53 balls. Her second fifty took only 20 balls which projected the destructive batting of her.
However, the show didn’t end there. Meg picked up 10 more runs from that over which took her tally to 109. In the 19th over she took a single to give Blackwell the strike and Blackwell did the same in the next ball. Elena Tice was ready to deliver the fourth ball of the over and it was despatched for six by Lanning. It was one of her four sixes.
Isobel Joyce came to ball the final over and Lanning ran a couple to become the highest scorer in an innings in a T20 International match. She went on to end her inning on 126 runs from 65 balls with 18 fours and 4 sixes. She broke the record of Shandre Alvida Fritz of South Africa, who scored unbeaten 116 against the Netherlands in 2010. Meg Lanning contributed 94 runs in 41 balls out of teams 115 in the last 10 overs.
Australia put up 191 runs on the board to defeat Ireland by 78 runs and Meg Lanning was awarded Player of the Match Award for her Record-Breaking knock. Later, in 2019 Sterre Kalis equalled Meg Lanning’s record against Germany. In the same year, Meg Lanning surpassed herself against England with an unbeaten 133.
However, the record was broken by her teammate Alyssa Healy who scored unbeaten 148 in 61 balls against Sri Lanka in 2019. This standstill as the highest score in the T20I in a single inning.
