The Australia captain skipped last year's WBBL as part of her time away from cricket but appears set to feature in the next edition after extending her association with Stars
Meg Lanning is braced to return to the Women's Big Bash League after signing a three-year contract extension with Melbourne Stars.
The 30-year-old missed the 2022 competition after taking an indefinite break from cricket.
She also missed Australia's five-match T20I series against India before returning against Pakistan, ahead of leading her country to a sixth women's T20 World Cup title.
Lanning led Australia to their sixth T20 World Cup win in South Africa (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
"I've been lucky enough to enjoy a lot of team success in my career but I haven't enjoyed the ultimate success in the WBBL yet so that is a huge motivating factor for me," said Lanning, who is currently captaining Delhi Capitals in the inaugural Women's Premier League.
"Despite not making finals last year, to see this young, exciting group grow as the tournament wore on was excellent to see.
Lanning is currently in India captaining Delhi Capitals in the WPL (Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images)
"This team has huge potential, and I can't wait for WBBL|09 to roll around."
Lanning played for Stars in the first edition of the WBBL in 2015, before moving to Perth Scorchers three years later. She re-joined them in 2020, immediately reassuming the captaincy, but a winner's medal continues to evade her.
In 78 tournament matches, she has scored 2,725 runs at 42.57 with a single century for Scorchers against Hobart Hurricanes in 2019.