New Delhi, Oct 27 (IANS): Meg Lanning, the former multiple World Cups winning Australia skipper, believes the women’s cricket calendar has begun to resemble that of men’s cricket schedule. She added that women cricketers need to prioritise having rest and relaxation time as much as training and preparing for matches.

"The game is so different now, we play so much more. It’s not ‘everybody plays everything’ any more. It’s going to have to be a bit of a shift in terms of what are the really important tournaments and series, and what does it look like for them to be ready to go, as opposed to ‘every tournament, every series everybody plays’, which is what happens in the men’s game now.

"Sometimes I look at the Aussie men’s team and think they’re taking the mickey a little bit in terms of their prep’, but then it’s like ‘well that actually makes sense’ because you’re trying to get them into the best headspace they can be when they need to be. It’s getting our heads a little bit around that, and not doing what we have previously," said Meg to The Sydney Morning Herald.

After making a tearful exit from international cricket last year due to unhealthy struggles with exercise and not fueling up much, Meg stated she is now enjoying more of her time playing the game, especially with no leadership duties against her name.

"What I love the most, which is silly, is that I don’t have to get my uniform on early to go do the toss. I love not having to do that. I don’t think too much about the games these days. I’ll rock up and play, and once I’m in the zone I want to be competitive and do well as I can. But it’s not as consuming all day, every day as it was.

"Without having the captaincy role, I feel like that is a natural barrier for people to open up and talk upfront. For a while, in the role I was in, I made it hard to let people in and talk to them," she added.