Australian Cricket after a long time seems to be back on the mend as they have beaten English team by a 3-0 margin in the ODI series. The five time champs have a new captain in Pat Cummins who replaced Aaron Finch. The Change came after Finch quit the 50 over format owing to the poor form with the bat.
Justin Langer is without doubt a huge name in the annals of the Australian cricket history. The left hander formed a formidable opening pair at the top alongside Matthew Hayden and paved the way for a successful period in the history of the Australian test cricket history.
The story so far –
Former Australian opener Justin Langer replaced Darren Lehmann as the coach of the side after the Sand-Paper Saga. A native from Western Australia, the former opener took over the reins in 2018 and served till the end of Ashes series which was won by Australia.
Langer’s reign wasn’t short of drama as there constant reports of unhappiness in the dressing room. The former Australian opener has now broken his silence on his 3 year reign.
Langer breaks his silence –
Nearly a year after quitting as the coach of the Australian team, Langer has come out and slammed his former wards. Speaking to Code Sports, Langer said “ Everyone was being nice to my face but I was reading about this stuff, and half of it ... I could not believe that is what was making the papers. A lot of journalists use the word 'source'. I would say, change that word to 'coward'. A coward says, not a source. Because what do you mean 'a source says'? They've either got an axe to grind with someone and they won't come and say it to your face, or they're just leaking stuff for their own agenda”
Having a frank word with Pat Cummins –
Pat Cummins took over the test captaincy from Tim Paine, just before the start of the 2021 Ashes. The fast bowler led the Australians to the oldest title win in the history of cricket to give Langer a perfect send off.
The former coach also said that he had a word with Pat Cummins before stepping down and recounted the conversation going like this “ I spoke to Pat Cummins. He said to me about five times, 'This might be brutally honest.' I said, 'Pat, there is nothing brutal about your feedback. What is brutal is I'm hearing it behind my back through the media or through sources,"
Gone for being too harsh for performances?
Langer was at the helm of affairs when Australia won its first ever World T20 title under Aaron Finch. The Australians beat New Zealand in the final of the 2021 T20 World which was hosted by India and played at UAE. Further speaking on the subject the 51 year old said “No one's telling me. Tell me. People say that I'm very intense, but they're mistaking intensity with honesty. The hardest thing for me of all of it was: I got the feedback (and) I did something about it. We won the T20 World Cup, we won the Ashes. We were number one in the world. I've never enjoyed coaching more and I've still got sacked. You can't give someone feedback, [they] do something about it, and then [for] that to happen”
Langer fires a parting short at Cricket Australia –
The former Australian cricketing legend and took a veiled dig at Cricket Australia and also blamed himself for lack of communication. Langer rounding off his talk with Code Sports said “I talked to the Cricket Australia board three times in four years. That's craziness. And that's the only thing I'd do differently. Because when you know people haven't got your back, there is no lonelier place in the world. When you do know people have got your back, there's no more powerful place in the world. And that's what I would have done differently”