Pitch Perfect

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In late June 2006, a cricket match is underway in Repton, south of Sheffield in the UK. The under-19 opening bowler for England watches the new batsman walk to the crease. Confusion flickers across the bowler’s face. His teammates snicker. The batsman is a girl. Fourteen years old, yet somehow she’s in the batting line-up of an elite Melbourne private school’s boys’ cricket team, a blonde ponytail sticking out from under her helmet. The fast bowler shortens his run-up, taking four steps before releasing the ball. Willow and leather connect with a crack and the ball shoots to the boundary for a four.

“There are things you never forget and I’ll never forget that innings Meg Lanning played,” former Carey Baptist Grammar School cricket coach Neil Williams, says, laughing as he recounts her focused attack.

“The bowler looked at her, hands on hips, walked back to his full run-up, came in and bowled his next ball. She hit that for four as well.

“This little girl had just smashed those kids ... and that’s when we thought, wow, she’s very special.”

When Meg reached a half-century, the English players, laughter banished, came to shake her hand. Then she made another 13 runs.