Australian captain Meg Lanning on Wednesday praised the organizers of the forthcoming sixth edition of the WBBL. Lanning acknowledged the hard work and hurdles the organizers had to face just to make sure Women’s Big Bash League takes place.
The 28-year-old will be seen leading the Melbourne Stars in WBBL 6 starting October 25. She was the part of Perth Scorchers from the last three seasons.
“Chasing a title in the WBBL, everybody would say that [it’s on their mind]. I’ve enjoyed my three years in Perth, they [the Perth Scorchers] are a great club. They’re really well run. Eventually, it came down to being in Melbourne a little bit more and spending more time home,” Lanning told ESPNCricinfo.
“It’s funny how it’s panned out: we will be in Sydney the whole time this year and we won’t be in Melbourne. But that’s just this year, hopefully, obviously, with the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s only so much that can be done about that. It’s great that we’ve got the tournament up and running,” she added.
Elyse Villani stepped down as the skipper of the Melbourne Stars and Lanning will take over the leadership this year.
Lanning feels that the inclusion of England and South African cricketers including Mignon du Preez will help the side this season.
“The Melbourne Stars, our list is really shaping up nicely. We’ve got Katherine Brunt and Nat Sciver joining us, Mignon du Preez, Elyse Villani, Annabel Sutherland are the marquee international players. That’s a really good mix of firepower with bat and ball and we’ve got some really good young kids coming through,” Lanning said.
Melbourne Stars will start their campaign by facing the Melbourne Renegades on October 25 in the opening day of the tournament.
