Meg Lanning: Australia's captain desperate for World Cup success

We live in a world where little is left to the imagination.

Revealing details about our lives is done with the touch of a button, anything from sending a picture of what you're having for dinner to a WhatsApp group, to a celebrity documenting their Caribbean holiday on Instagram.

Social media has made professional sportsmen and women more accessible than ever, bringing them closer to the fans who idolise them and ultimately pay their wages.

It feels valuable to have the opportunity to learn about the person behind the athlete. What makes them tick, what they do away from sport and the real-life experiences that have shaped them as human beings seem more interesting than how well they are hitting the ball in the nets or which end they prefer to bowl at.

Which brings us to Meg Lanning, who has managed to piece together a career as perhaps the best batter to ever play women's cricket while barely revealing anything about herself.

Lanning is captain of an Australia side that is probably the strongest international sports team, male or female, on the planet. By the time the 30-year-old finishes her career, she is likely to have numbers matched by no other woman. Her cut shot is so precise, it could take the head off a dandelion from 100 yards.

And yet, even those who have played in the same team as Lanning admit to knowing little about her. The biggest revelation from a near-forensic trawl of the internet is that she doesn't like eating coriander.

Watching Lanning in action paints a picture of an ice-cold winning machine. Automatic, unflappable and almost emotionless.

A conversation with her reveals the opposite. Lanning is likeable and modest, open enough to admit she is a «guarded» person who finds captaincy much more stressful