Melbourne : Meg Lanning has been declared as the new captain of Melbourne Stars in the Women’s Big Bash League(WBBL) , who had leaded the Stars in the opening two editions before moving to Perth Scorchers. She will take over from Elyse Villani who was the captain last season.
She has played 27 matches for the Melbourne Stars across the first two inaugural editions of the WBBL, scoring 1062 runs at an average above 50. She was the leading run scorer in both seasons, before departing to join the Perth Scorchers.
“I’m looking forward to leading the Melbourne Stars again and building on the great work Elyse Villani has done. It’s a privilege to be captain and we’re pretty happy with how our squad looks ahead of the tournament. More than anything, I’m really looking forward to getting back to playing cricket, firstly with Australia and then with Stars in WBBL,” Lanning said.
Meg Lanning to lead Melbourne Stars in WBBL https://t.co/h4Ntcjw8XW #meglanning pic.twitter.com/hvOuwcB5VN
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Lanning is one of the six changes to the 15-women group, one of the other ones being the signing of all-rounder Bhavi Devchand. The 27-year-old signed her first agreement with Victoria this season and has previously turned up for the Perth Scorchers, Western Australia and Gloucestershire.
“Bhavi is obviously new to the Stars team and the Victorian squad this season,” Lanning stated. “We’re looking forward to having her involved in WBBL and I’m sure she’ll take a lot from the opportunity,” she added.
The Melbourne Stars made it at bottom of the scoreboard last year and are disappointingly the only club to have never reached the finals. They will be looking to renovate it under coach Trent Woodhill and the new captain.
“We’ve made some changes for this season which I hope will start to make that difference at key points in matches,” Woodhill said. “I’m delighted Meg has agreed to return to the captaincy, and I’d like to thank Elyse for her leadership over the last 12 months – she has done a fantastic job. I think we’re in a pretty good place. In recent seasons we’ve been able to make some competitive totals with the bat but have struggled to take key wickets and really break a game open.”
“Bhavi has already had WBBL experience in Perth and gives us greater depth which will be important with the workload ahead,” he added.
Full squad: Meg Lanning (C), Katherine Brunt, Nat Sciver, Elyse Villani, Mignon du Preez, Annabel Sutherland, Lucy Cripps, Bhavi Devchand, Alana King, Holly Ferling, Erin Osborne, Tess Flintoff, Georgia Gall, Sophie Day, Nicole Faltum.
