Former Australia women's team captain Meg Lanning has revealed the reasons behind her shocking retirement all of a sudden.

Meg Lanning
Meg Lanning retired from all forms of Cricket in November 2023 after missing out three international tours. However, she didn’t reveal the reasons behind her shock retirement at the age of just 31, she instead revealed her private health battle for the first time on the Howie Games podcast. She said an unhealthy obsession with exercise and not eating enough food had led to her sudden retirement from international cricket last year.

"I was over-exercising and under-fuelling," Lanning said. "I got to the point where I was doing about 85-90km [running] a week. I was in denial.

"It became a bit of an obsession. It was because I could escape mentally. I would throw the headphones in, I wouldn't take my phone with me. I would have my Apple watch with me and listen to music. Nobody could contact me. I really liked that because I felt like I was in control.

"I felt like I was eating. I was still eating. But I'm much more aware of it now. I was not eating enough. I'd eat maybe a couple of meals a day if I was lucky and they weren't significant. It didn't start off as a deliberate thing. It just became a bit of a new normal.

"It sort of slowly crept into conscious decisions. Essentially I felt good. I was light. I could run heaps. I wasn't getting injured like everyone was telling me I was going to do. It almost became a bit of, 'I am going to show you' sort of thing.

"It sort of just spiralled and I was in denial. I got down to 57kg from 64kg. It wasn't ridiculous but it was significant. The ratios were out of whack. But it was the other things that I did not realise. It [affected] my ability to concentrate. I didn't really want to see other people. I disengaged a lot from friends and family. I didn't realise that I was doing this. It sort of became a new normal.

"I naturally would enjoy spending time by myself. I'm totally fine with that. But there would be very few people who I would want to engage with. I would get really snappy, real moody if anyone asked anything.

"I became a bit of a different person. Pretty hard to be around, I would say.

"I was not in a place to be able to go on tour and play cricket and give the commitment levels required for that Ashes series mentally and physically. So the decision was made with me in conjunction with the medical team to miss that tour."