{"id":926303,"date":"2026-10-13T06:14:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T06:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/926303\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T06:14:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T06:14:16","slug":"meg-lanning-replaces-annabel-sutherland-as-melbourne-stars-captain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/926303\/","title":{"rendered":"Meg Lanning replaces Annabel Sutherland as Melbourne Stars captain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Australian captain Meg Lanning will take the reins at the Melbourne Stars in this season\u2019s WBBL after superstar Annabel Sutherland decided to step down to focus on her on-field contributions to the team.<\/p>\n

Sutherland skippered the Stars for the past two seasons but had modest returns with the bat that belied her international form, which included winning the Belinda Clark Award as the country\u2019s best player two years in a row. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve loved captaining the Stars these past two seasons and I\u2019m really keen to continue to be a leader this season and keep developing my skills in that space,\u201d Sutherland said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really want to contribute to the team\u2019s success in the best way I can, and I think by sharing the load with the leadership, I can hopefully make a bigger impact with the bat and ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know we are in great hands with Meg \u2013 she knows the game as well as anyone and has had so much success as a captain.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a great chance to spend another season working together, alongside Rich (cosch Richard Pyrah) who I just spent a season with in The Hundred.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery WBBL experience is such a good opportunity to learn and get better as a leader and player. Working with Rich and Meg this season will no doubt help me become a better captain for whenever the next opportunity comes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lanning has played 109 matches for the Stars and previously captained them for five seasons, with the legendary batter averaging more than 40 in a glittering WBBL career. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t on my radar to captain again, but I want to do what\u2019s best to help the team win,\u201d Lanning said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had discussions as senior players about how we can work together to lead the team, rather than it all falling on one person.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to get the best out of each player and we think this is the best way to do that, so I\u2019m happy to take on this role.\u201d<\/p>\n

New coach Pyrah has backed the decision ahead of the team\u2019s first game of the season on October 29. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes a lot of courage and humility for Annabel to recognise that the best thing for the team is for her to focus on her performance and stand aside from the captaincy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe easy thing would be for her to keep the title and continue on, but this move just speaks volumes of her character.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll no doubt see the best version of Annabel, which we\u2019ve seen so often on the global stage, for the Stars this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been equally as impressed by Meg\u2019s attitude in embracing the new opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has captained this team before, but there is a real emphasis on Meg, Annabel and Kim sharing the workload as leaders this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have made it clear that this isn\u2019t one person\u2019s team \u2013 it takes a collective effort and we\u2019ve got the right mix of people to lead this new era of the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to create the most enjoyable environment possible at the Melbourne Stars. The Big Bash is all about having fun and winning games the right way, and I think we\u2019re taking all the right steps to do that this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as \u2018It wasn\u2019t on my radar\u2019: Meg Lanning to captain Stars after Annabel Sutherland relinquishes role<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Australian captain Meg Lanning will take the reins at the Melbourne Stars in this season\u2019s WBBL after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":926304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[493627,426738,386057,457907,436532,397707,493617,493609,493629,493653,382498,493634,493652,493645,387234,493636,493644,376730,493631,456961,493628,379486,380412,493637,493638,493632,47933,437914,64,272889,63,35086,493639,103145,493647,493649,740,262534,493648,493641,387063,493615,493610,493622,390924,493635,493640,407427,493633,20722,493624,140811,39938,117279,493613,405582,451490,462630,493616,493626,37473,1861,6699,493623,3206,17989,493630,85,493619,493612,112411,415339,425833,493646,493642,381352,413524,421904,385570,493655,493625,382205,313300,378533,493643,74713,388168,33521,393363,493611,458078,493650,493620,493618,493651,392301,376436,454977,426825,356269,396013,315971,377475,493621,493654,488915,493614,386809,380519,386816,364611,381028,19434,29879],"class_list":["post-926303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-s-attitude","tag-s-best-player","tag-s-biggest-stars","tag-s-first-game","tag-s-success","tag-s-team","tag-s-wbbl","tag-109-matches","tag-a-better-captain","tag-a-bigger-impact","tag-a-captain","tag-a-collective-effort","tag-a-glittering-wbbl-career","tag-a-great-chance","tag-a-leader","tag-a-leader-and-player","tag-a-leading-club","tag-a-lot","tag-a-major-leadership-change","tag-a-new-role","tag-a-real-emphasis","tag-a-row","tag-a-season","tag-all-the-right-steps","tag-annabel","tag-annabel-and-kim","tag-annabel-sutherland","tag-another-season","tag-au","tag-aussie-cricket","tag-australia","tag-australian-cricket","tag-captain-stars","tag-captaincy","tag-cosch-richard-pyrah","tag-courage-and-humility","tag-cricket","tag-discussions","tag-each-player","tag-every-wbbl-experience","tag-five-seasons","tag-former-australian-captain-meg-lanning","tag-fun-and-winning-games","tag-great-hands","tag-her-character","tag-her-international-form","tag-her-on-field-contributions","tag-her-performance","tag-lanning","tag-leaders","tag-major-leadership-shake-up","tag-meg","tag-meg-lanning","tag-melbourne-stars","tag-modest-returns","tag-more-than-40","tag-my-radar","tag-my-skills","tag-new-coach-pyrah","tag-october-29","tag-one-person","tag-people","tag-rich","tag-rich-and-meg","tag-role","tag-senior-players","tag-so-much-success","tag-sports","tag-such-a-good-opportunity","tag-superstar-annabel-sutherland","tag-sutherland","tag-that-space","tag-the-bat","tag-the-bat-and-ball","tag-the-belinda-clark-award","tag-the-best","tag-the-best-thing","tag-the-best-version","tag-the-best-way","tag-the-big-bash","tag-the-captaincy","tag-the-club","tag-the-country","tag-the-decision","tag-the-easy-thing","tag-the-game","tag-the-global-stage","tag-the-hundred","tag-the-leadership","tag-the-legendary-batter","tag-the-load","tag-the-melbourne-stars","tag-the-most-enjoyable-environment","tag-the-new-opportunity","tag-the-next-opportunity","tag-the-past-two-seasons","tag-the-reins","tag-the-right-mix","tag-the-right-way","tag-the-season","tag-the-stars","tag-the-team","tag-the-title","tag-the-workload","tag-these-past-two-seasons","tag-this-move","tag-this-new-era","tag-this-role","tag-this-season","tag-this-team","tag-this-year","tag-two-years","tag-volumes","tag-wbbl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=926303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/926304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=926303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=926303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=926303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}