Lanning took over the national women’s team captaincy as a relatively young age in June 2014 following Jodie Fields’ retirement. In fact, when the then-22-year-old stepped in as interim captain during that year’s Ashes series, she became the youngest person - male or female - ever to captain an Australian national cricket side.

The now-24-year-old told Inside Sport her cricketing team philosophy and approach was turned on its head when she was appointed skipper. “The biggest thing about captaincy is knowing your players and knowing your team, and trying to work out ways of getting the best out of each individual,” she said.

“Cricket’s a team sport, but you sort’ve operate individually a little bit within that. On the field, tactics - they change a little bit; you sort’ve go with your instincts a bit more.

“Off the field, you really need to create a good environment and ensure the players are enjoying themselves.

“Those are probably the biggest things I’ve learnt. I probably didn’t think about these sides of the game before I took over the captaincy.

“As a player you sort’ve go along in your own bubble. Once you’re a leader, you need to try and ensure everyone’s on the same page and that the environment is really good.”

Lanning’s extra captaincy responsibilities certainly haven’t harmed her career stats. From 49 ODIs to date she’s made eight centuries at an average of 49.57 and strike rate of 96.49. Her T20 numbers are through the roof. She boasts a strike rate of 117 from 67 matches and a high score of 126.

The Southern Stars head into this month’s five-match home series against South Africa having secured the inaugural ICC Women’s Championship with a sweep of Sri Lanka in September. They scored scored four solid victories in Colombo and Dambulla - by ten wickets, 137 runs, nine wickets and 78 runs. After missing the first match of the series, Lanning contributed 43 in the second game at a run a ball in Australia’s big total of 3/268. Only needed briefly in the third game due to Australia’s small run chase, Lanning scored 29 in Australia’s 78-run win in game four.

The Stars’ series against South Africa will start with two games at Manuka Oval in Canberra on November 18 and 20. The series will then move up to North Sydney Oval (November 23) and Coffs Harbour (November 27 and 29).

Next year the Stars will be looking to win back-to-back Women’s Cricket World Cups across England and Wales in June and July.