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Former Australia captain Meg Lanning has taken an indefinite break from the WBBL, less than two weeks after her retirement from international cricket.
Lanning sat out Melbourne Stars' 15-run win over Brisbane Heat at the Junction Oval in Melbourne on Sunday due to personal reasons. With only two games left and Stars to miss making the finals, Lanning's immediate future in the sport is uncertain.
"She's taking a few days out for some personal reasons," Stars coach Jonathan Batty told the Seven Network. "We're reassured she's all OK, which is the most important thing, but we're giving her that time and space and respecting her privacy in what she needs to do.
"We're taking it on a game-by-game basis at the moment and we'll give her all the time she needs to make that decision but she's definitely out for the next couple of games."
Lanning has taken numerous breaks from cricket during the last two years, and earlier this month announced she was ending her storied career for Australia, saying she had lost the hunger to perform at international level.
Young allrounder Annabel Sutherland captained Stars in Lanning's absence as Heat dropped a second straight match.
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Opener Maia Bouchier top-scored with 41 in Stars' 156 for 5, while Amelia Kerr and Nicola Hancock picked up two wickets each for Heat.
In the chase, opener Georgia Redmayne, filling in as captain for Jess Jonassen, who was rested due to hamstring soreness, started brightly but left-arm spinner Sophie Day and Sutherland tightened the screws on Heat.
Day's performance took her back to the top of the wicket-taking charts in what has been a breakout season for her.
While Kerr and Mignon du Preez were together, Heat had a chance of challenging the target, but they fell in consecutive deliveries - Kerr excellently caught by wicketkeeper Sophie Reid and then du Preez bowled by Day, who was named Player of the Match for her 3 for 16.
The defeat is a blow to Heat's hopes of hosting the final as the table-topping team in the regular season.
