A new coach. A new era.
- Lucy Price
- May 2, 2018
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 1, 2018
Justin Langer announced as new Cricket Australia head coach.
Finally, the ball-tampering sandal, the disaster that was the Tour of South Africa and the resignation of coach, Darren Lehmann, are all behind us. Now it’s time to sit back and ponder over who should be the new head coach of the Australian Cricket team. On the 2nd May 2018, the new head coach was announced. The job was appointed to former Test opener, Justin Langer. The 47-year-old will replace Darren Lehmann and has signed a four-year contract to coach the national side in all three formats of the game (Test, ODI and T20). The four-year contract also includes two Ashes series’, a World Cup and a World T20 tournament. For those of you who don’t know who Justin Langer is, here’s a little background information about Australia’s new cricket coach….
Justin Langer was an extremely successful opening batsman for the Australian Cricket team. He is generally remembered for his incredible Test career and he’s dominating partnership with former Aussie great, Matthew Hayden. The Western Australian batsman debuted on 23rd January 1993 against West Indies. Langer was the 354th cricketer to be selected for his country (cap 354) and played over 105 Test matches. The opener scored 7696 runs with an impressive batting average of 45.27. In early January 2007, Justin announced that he would retire from international cricket. The batsman played his last Test match on the 5th January 2007. His retirement came after the 5-0 thrashing of England in the 2006-07 Ashes Series, which saw Australian regained the urn. Langer continued his domestic career playing for Western Australia and Somerset in the English CCC (County Cricket Championship). In 2009, Justin retired the bat and gloves. After his retirement, Langer entered into the coaching box as head coach of the Western Australian BBL (Big Bash League) side, Perth Scorchers. He brought success to the Scorchers winning two BBL finals. After his four-years at the Scorchers, Langer made an unexpected code switch and accepted a job on the board with the West Coach Eagle in the AFL. In May 2018, Justin Langer was announced as the new head coach of the Australian Cricket team. Now he has the opportunity of a lifetime to coach the team he once used to represent. Do you think he’s the perfect fit for the job? Well, with his fantastic performance on and off the field, both as a player and a coach, it appears he’ll do just fine but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
On the day of his appointment, Langer was questioned, during his press conference, whether he would contemplate the return of the three banned stars - Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft. The former Test opener and now coach told Fox Sports that the three suspended players will be considered if they “keep getting better and meet the standards of the Australian Cricket team.” Which, in all honestly, is fair enough, if you do what’s required to redeem yourself, people will hopefully give you a second chance. This statement from Langer should send a big message to the suspended men to pull up their socks and work hard in order to regain a good reputation. It is unknown whether Steve Smith, if selected, will return to the captaincy role.
Personally, I think Justin Langer was a smart choice as his leadership that has been shown on and off the field will direct the national team toward the right direction and hopefully he can re-establish the respect they deserve and the competitive and admirable reputation that, unfortunately, was lost during the ball-tampering sandal. Langer will do wonders with the national team and maybe change things up with an unpredictable squad selection. I guess we’ll have to sit back, relax and wait. As the Darren Lehmann era ends, a new one begins. It all starts this June against good old rivals, England, in an ODI and T20 series. Good Luck Justin! Do us Aussie's proud!
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Thank you!
Lucy xx
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