Winning 'The Don Award' a huge honour and recognition of our hard work as a team, says Meg Lanning

awarded ‘The Don Award’ at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame 2020 Awards for their T20 World Cup winning performance at home in March 2020. Skipper Meg Lanning said winning the award was a huge honour and also a recognition for all the hard yards the side have put in over the last few years.

“It's a huge honour to receive this award and some great recognition for the team for the moment at the World Cup which seems like a long time ago now, but it was certainly a very special moment,” Lanning said in media interaction on Saturday (December 5).

“ a really big event that had a big build up and yet for our team to be recognised in this way is a really huge honour and it just goes to show the work that's been put in behind the scenes by a lot of people.”

Australia's women side is the first cricket team to win the coveted award that’s named after Don Bradman, with Australia's women's football side winning it in 2006 being the only other instance of a team winning it.

“I started playing cricket because it was a team sport and I loved working with other people and I'm trying to achieve a common goal so there's lots of sports out there that young people can get involved in but cricket certainly been great for me I've thoroughly enjoyed it,” Lanning added.

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“Hopefully it does allow young females to see a pathway to becoming part of the elite program and I think that that's really important. WBBLs played a really massive role in ensuring that pathway and a clear guide for young people who want to get involved in the game.”

The 2020 T20 World Cup final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) saw more than 86,000 people turn up to witness Australia win their fifth T20 World title defeating India by 85 runs. Lanning believes it had a significant impact in inspiring next generation to take up the sport.

“It certainly has already had a significant impact on the sport and although we have had a little bit of a break due to COVID, I still think it's had a really positive impact. It's so important that we're able to inspire the next generation of young Australians to be active, take on sport and really do what they love and that's what we've been doing,” she said.

The T20 World Cup final saw a record crowd throng to the MCG.  © Getty Images

“Hopefully it's not just the moment that happened and it gets forgotten. From the way we got supported throughout the World Cup, we knew it was going to be something really special and we had to be able to play in front of 86,000 people watching us play. That was certainly amazing and hopefully it's not the last time that happens.”

“As a team we've always thought that it was it was really important to engage with the fans and those who were supporting us and especially the last five or so years we've been able to really build that connection with the fans and the young girls and boys who want to be involved in the sport.”

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Lanning recently led her WBBL side Melbourne Stars to the final of the sixth season of the tournament. The 28-year-old believes the competition has been instrumental in the development and rising popularity of women’s game in Australia.

“We've just seen that the tournament that got played is really popular and a great spectacle for the sport. We're continuing to engage and have the connection with the fans who are really supporting us. I think that's a really important part of it as well because that can separate us from other teams. We do that really well; we think it's really important and we enjoy that side of it.”

“There's some discussions around a tour potentially in the New Year. But what exactly that looks like we're not we're not sure yet. CA trying to work as best they can to get some cricket for us because it's important to keep the momentum going. But for us as a group I think the next really big thing on the radar is the 2022 one day World Cup. So, there'll be a fair bit of one day cricket between now and then. That's the big thing on our radar which we'll be working towards,” Lanning concluded.