Australia’s T20 World Cup-winning captain Meg Lanning is set to further her education, both in cricket and outside, in order to best use her time during the enforced break due to the global coronavirus pandemic. She also said that it is unlikely that the Women’s T20 Challenge in India will go ahead as planned.
Lanning and Co had lifted a record fifth T20 World Cup on March 8 at MCG days before all sporting action came to an end throughout the world. For now, the 28-year-old is planning to finish her Level Three coaching course and get a university degree in business or sports management during the period of social distancing, according to cricket.com.au.
“I’ll look to lock that [uni course] in next week. Once I’ve done that, it will settle me down a bit once I’ve got something to focus on,” she told the Cricket Australia website.
“I love to get outdoors and be active and spend time doing that, so I’ve had to adjust that. I’ve got a home gym set-up that I feel will keep me going. I’ll certainly go stir crazy if I can’t do any exercise. I’m just working out little things like that to make sure I’m as well set up as I can be,” she added.
The batting superstar also revealed that there has been no update about the Women’s T20 Challenge to be held during the knock-out stages of Indian Premier League. With the country under lockdown and IPL postponed, the future of the tournament is uncertain.
“At this stage, it’s probably looking very unlikely. We haven’t really had any communication around it from anyone in India, so it’s a bit of a wait and see. But at this stage I’m expecting it not to go ahead,” she said.
The captain is also checking in with her team mates, keeping up the bonding through virtual means as everyone is spending time indoors to curb the spread of the virus.
“We’ve got a virtual meeting booked in for Friday where anyone can jump on and have a chat about cricket, not cricket, anything like that,” she said. “As captain, it’s very important that I’m leading the way and making sure everyone is going well.”