Meg Lanning

Lanning made her international debut at 18, and within her first four years at that level she had already collected three World Cup titles. In 2014, at the age of 21, she was appointed captain of Australia, the youngest player ever to hold the role.

Her path was not without setbacks. Australia's exit at the semi-final stage of the 2017 World Cup was followed by a shoulder injury that sidelined Lanning for close to eight months. When she came back, she found herself feeling like an outsider within her own squad. Because she had never been left out of the side since her debut, she had not previously seen the game from that point of view. Living through it made her more empathetic toward her teammates and led to better conversations within the group.

As a leader, Lanning has guided Australia to a run of global titles: the T20 World Cup in 2018, 2020 and 2023, and the ODI World Cup in 2022. She is not someone who maps out too much in advance of a match, preferring not to over-plan before games.

In August 2022, after Australia claimed gold at the Commonwealth Games, Lanning stepped away from cricket for an indefinite period. The time away gave her a chance to reset her goals and to feel normal again after a long stretch of remarkable success.