Justin Langer has opened up on his exit as Australia’s head coach, and cleared the air over the rumours of him taking up the role with the England Cricket team.
Justin Langer quit as Australia coach in February, after having been offered a mere six-month contract extension despite guiding the team to the T20 World Cup 2021 triumph followed by the 4-0 Ashes win at home.
Interestingly, there were rumours of a troubled relationship between the coach and a group of senior players doing the rounds, which influenced Cricket Australia’s decision. A host of his former teammates, including Mark Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Matthew Hayden and the late Shane Warne had criticised CA for their gesture.
The 51-year-old has blamed the “bullshit politics” within the cricketing body for his exit, while taking a dig at interim CA chairman Richard Freudenstein.
“Ironically, the last six months of my coaching career were the most enjoyable period of 12 years of coaching. Not only did we win everything, but I had energy, and I had focus, and I was happy – besides the bull**** politics,”
he told a Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA event in Perth.
Australia have named Andrew McDonald as Langer’s replacement. The latter was rumoured to take up the coaching role with the England cricket team following his resignation, but he’s now made it clear that the idea was never considered.
“I’ve never spoken to English cricket. The thought of coaching England, mate!”
Langer said
The former opening batsman further opened up on the challenging times during his stint.
“It’s no wonder your health suffers; your mental, your physical health. You’re trying to please everybody. The great lesson I learned was…I cleared my desk, and all of a sudden instead of having everything on my table, I had two things on my desk. One was winning and the second thing was my people.”
he said.
