Near miss drove captain to big knock

Meg Lanning says her near century in the first one-day international against the West Indies in Hurstville was a driving motivator for her history-making innings in the third ODI in Bowral.

The 22-year-old Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars captain batted with ruthless authority at the birthplace of Sir Donald Bradman, reaching triple figures off 100 balls, before pushing on to see the world champions home with eight wickets and 41 balls to spare.

When asked whether the possibility of falling just short of her ton, as she did in the first ODI when she edged a late cut behind for 95, was a driving motivator for this innings, Lanning played characteristically straight.

“I guess so,” she told cricket.com.au.

“It was pretty disappointing when I got out.

“But also that I didn’t finish it for the team; I didn’t care too much about the hundred.

“I suppose (the century) went through my mind a little bit when I got close but once I passed it I was determined to really finish it off.”

The century was just the first struck by a female cricketer at the Bradman Oval and moved Lanning into equal second on the Australian all-time women’s ODI century-makers list, joining legend of the game Belinda Clark with five triple-figure scores.

Of the seven international women’s cricketers with five ODI centuries to their name, Lanning has achieved the milestone in by far the fewest games - 28 fewer, to be precise, than the next best.

Despite the history associated with Bradman Oval and the rare air she now shares, Lanning was quick to play down the achievement.

“I think any century you score for your country is going to be special,” she said.

“It’s hard to rate it against others, but I think the important thing is that I went on with it and scored a really big score rather than getting there and getting out so that was more what I was focused on to be honest.

“It’s always nice to get there and get a good score but I’m looking for consistency all the time so I’m looking for another one on Tuesday hopefully.”

The Southern Stars will be aiming to lift their ODI win streak to 10 when they return to the Bradman Oval for game four and, not surprisingly, Lanning isn’t too keen to tinker with what has been a hugely successful formula.

“I don’t think so,” she replied when asked whether there would be changes, either to tactics or personnel, for Tuesday’s match.

“We’ve got a squad of 13 here and anyone can come in and do the job for us.

“We’re certainly going to be looking to win and finish off on a good note.

“I think we’ve had some good contributions from a lot of different people which is very pleasing so hopefully we can finish that off.”

Be sure to follow all the action as Lanning and the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars take on the West Indies in their final international match of the summer from 10am AEDT on Tuesday November 18; LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on cricket.com.au.