Meg Lanning leads Australia's quest for world domination

Australia will begin their cricketing summer on Sunday, 29 September, when they take on Sri Lanka in the first of the three Twenty20 Internationals in Sydney. A three-match one-day international series will follow the T20Is. There is also a standalone season of the Rebel Women's Big Bash League, a T20I tri-series against England and India in the upcoming months. A tour to South Africa will follow before the ICC Women's T20 World Cup at home.

Australia are riding high at the moment after their Ashes victory in England, Lanning's second as captain abroad, and a 6-0 win over West Indies in the Caribbean across ODIs and T20Is.

Lanning knows the current Australian side are capable of exerting that kind of dominance over other sides and they are not going to leave any stone unturned to achieve that target. "We've spoken about it as a team, about dominating world cricket and putting a gap between opposition teams," she told cricket.com.au.

"That's not an easy thing to do, because there's some world-class teams out there, but we feel like we've got the chance to do that. We've got to keep working hard to make sure we stay No.1 – we've been through a period where we floated back to the pack a little bit after being No.1 – and that's really driven the team to get better."

The 27-year-old, who was appointed captain in 2014, is Australia's most successful captain in ODI history. She has won 86% of her games as skipper but is quick to point out that her success is a result of leading a top-quality side with world-class players.

"We've got a number of world-class players in our side who have been dominating over the last few years, Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy – but the good thing we've been able to do is to introduce new young players.

"That's really kept us going as a side. Georgia Wareham, Taylor Vlaeminck, Sophie Molineux, these players have come in and performed well on the international stage straightaway. The thing that's made the biggest difference to our side is that we don't rely on one or two people now."

Lanning is not only a fine captain but an equally brilliant player – statistically she is one of Australia's best batters. Still only 27, she holds the most centuries in women's ODI cricket and the second-best batting average for Australia after Elyse Perry. In July 2019, she also smashed an unbeaten 133 in the Ashes, the highest individual score in women's T20Is. Her exploits have been driven by a very basic, but uncompromising goal – to be the very best.

"I don't train and put in all the time and effort to be a good player," said Lanning, who has over 6000 runs in limited overs cricket. "I want to be the bestplayer. That's what drives me to be better all the time. Cricket's a game where if you stand still for a little bit you'll get overtaken pretty quickly.

"I still feel like I can improve my game. I want to dominate attacks. That's an aim of mine, to make sure I'm doing that," she added.