Justin Langer appointed new Head Coach of Cricket Australia
In the two months since the cricketing world was rocked by the now infamous sandpaper ball-tampering scandal in Australia’s 3rd test against South Africa, much has changed in the cricketing world down under.
David Warner and Steve Smith are sitting out their bans – Warner reputedly turning to bricklaying to take his mind off his woes. While Cameron Bancroft, seen as the new-kid coerced into questionable behaviour by the bosses, has had his 9 month ban softened slightly and has now been cleared to play club cricket in Australia. He’ll turn out for Willetton in search of runs and redemption.
The latest ODI rankings have also poured Castlemaine into the wound with Australia’s woeful recent form in that format of the game translating into a drop to fifth in the World rankings.
And perhaps the biggest shake up of the Coolibah tree has been the changes right at the top of the canopy. Tim Paine has taken over the captaincy promising a change of attitude and on field behaviour and stressing that the ‘win at all costs’ Aussie way, cannot continue in its most militant form.
And the new head coach is super successful, ex-opening batsman Justin Langer.
His transition from steady-away but ultimately devastating opening batting partner with Matthew Hayden to coach has seen no dip in form or reputation. Coaching the Scorchers to three big Bash titles and Western Australia to two domestic 50-over titles, he has also had considerable experience in the international set up, working for three years as Australia’s assistant coach and taking the helm as head coach twice on an interim basis.
So it was with little trepidation that Cricket Australia announced Langer’s appointment replacing the unfortunate Darren Lehmann whose career and tenure became tarred by association with the ball-tampering scandal.
Cricket Australia Chief Executive, James Sutherland, said that they had a,
“Succession plan in place for this role for some time. The plan has allowed us to consider several worthy candidates, but Justin was the clear standout, particularly based on his recent coaching and player development achievements. We firmly believe Justin is the right person to lead this team and have huge confidence in what he will bring to the role.”
And it took Langer no time at all to confirm to the eager press his intentions to overhaul the previous regime’s ultra-aggression approach, stating that his ambition for the team was to:
“Earn respect on and off the field. To me that’s worth more than all the gold in the world. We look to encourage great cricketers but also great Australians. Over the next four years, starting from day one, that’s really important.”
He was keen to point out that that did not mean forgoing their competitive desire however:
“The public will be disappointed if we don’t play good, hard, competitive cricket, but that said, we can also modify our behaviours so it’s not angry or overly aggressive.”
And Langer’s desire to win cannot be questioned. Both his coaching success and his part in the golden Australian team of Ponting, Warne, Gilchrist et al, lead most to assume that positive results will surely come his way at the highest level.
In his latest BBC podcast with co-host Michael Vaughan, Phil, “Tuffers”, Tufnell recounted an anecdote from his playing days alongside Langer for Middlesex, which illustrated perfectly his competitive nature. After a long toiling day in the field, Tuffers was eagerly looking forward to tucking into a spread of chocolate éclairs and fondant fancies during tea. Langer, clearly unimpressed by the effort exerted by his team-mates during the previous laboursome session, strode ahead of them all and into the dining room. With a face like thunder he snatched up the tray of delicacies, turned to his ten associates and hurled it to the ground in disgust. ‘After that performance they hadn’t deserved their tea,’ he scowled. Tuffers to this day, laments the unnecessary destruction of choux pastry and cream.
With Australia’s first competitive matches after the new appointment still a few weeks off, we have yet to see proof of the pudding. The fact that their initial match back in harness will be the first of five ODIs against arch rivals England, in England, is surely going to add a little spice to the occasion. Will this new restrained team still have the bite required to take them over the victory line or will the Baggy Greens prove as floppy as their namesake caps?
