Justin Langer - where to next, the narrative continues ...
Coaches are temporary, class is permanent.
Elite honesty did not come easily to Justin Langer as a player; it would not be a long bow to draw to assume this partly transcended into his coaching.
And, there is little doubt his, sometimes, irksome behaviour has placed him in the precarious position he now finds himself.
For the record; Langer explained ‘Elite honesty’ as - "It's the Australian way as I know it." Ahh … there are, of course, contrary arguments here!
His dressing-room vernacular included; blokes, a lady, sister, a man in the mirror, and mates. And then there are the cliches; ‘our actions will speak a lot louder than the words we write down’; ‘look a bloke in the eye and tell them the truth, and be happy to get some truth back.’
This rolled into him championing ‘elite mateship’ - presumably this applied to the privileged elite who made it to the Australian dressing room - or, possibly, it was reference to his incestuous mateship with Matthew Hayden, as a player.
As is his want - Langer threw himself headfirst into the job at hand. Hard work, preparation, and mateship would play out - the Australian way.
So how did it get to this? Tomorrow (Friday) a meeting chaired by an interim will decide Langer's fate. It looks like he is at the mercy of his captains. Their words will weigh heavy. This could be the terminal juncture.
Many cricket followers are astounded at the standoff between Langer and Cricket Australia. They see Langer seeking reasonable compensation on the back of recent unmitigated team success.
His allies stretch beyond the normal folk. Former teammates Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist all calling for fair and reasonable reward. They call for this on the back of World T20 and Ashes victories. He has done all that was asked of him.
2018 seems like a lifetime ago! A litany of hideous decisions catapulted, an already untrustworthy team, to a place of no return. The scandal at Newlands gave Cricket Australia an opportunity to drive change in a flagging men's national team.
Exit: Darren Lehman and Steve Smith.
Enter: Justin Langer.
The brief was simple: restore faith and pride in the Australian cricket team. This mandate was already written on page one of Langer's own playbook - presumably the reason he got the job. Recognition should be awarded to Cricket Australia here.
Tim Paine, appointed captain when Steve Smith was quarantined for a period of time, looked the perfect fit for Langer, allowing his micromanagement style to take root without question. Paine was an affable front man, his role as a player was not overly taxing, and he had enough cricket acumen to handle the diluted captaincy responsibilities. He would also inherit a relatively fresh dressing room.
With these appointments, Cricket Australia bought themselves time to fix the commercial fallout that emanated from the Newlands fiasco. That was much to do on this front. It also afforded Langer space to pitch his tent.
The preceding tent was given a four-year lease, with the handshake promise of a further two-year extension. Again, Langer's brief was to provide leadership as the Test team looked to reestablish itself, and maybe unbeknown to Langer, to buy time while they, Cricket Australia, looked for a new ‘long-term’ captain - someone other than Paine.
Gavin Dovey, the team manager, could be seen as the third member of the top-level dressing room triumvirate. Langer became close with Dovey when he previously filled the team's batting coach role. Both shared an abrasive exterior; this irritated both players and staff, and the seed might have been sown here.
An internal incident involving Langer and Dovey has been widely reported. This was August, 2021 when Australia was in Bangladesh.
Heated exchanges escalated out of a straightforward inquiry from Dovey to a Cricket Australia staffer regarding the posting of a video that showed celebratory singing of the Bangladesh team song. This was posted on a CA website.
The staffer did not back down. Langer joined the argument and the rest is current history. Like the text you desperately want to recall, no sir, the message is gone and delivered. The incidents were witnessed by a number of people, leaving some players taken aback and with a sense of concern about what had taken place. This all happened in a very public place - the team hotel - not the team dressing-room.
Two months later, Aaron Finch was hoisting the World T20 trophy. Australia had broken their duck, landing their first title in this format. Langer was the coach; this cannot be disputed. However, as a consequence of what had transpired in Bangladesh, and had been building previously, he took much more of a managerial role. It appears the dressing room was not as frantic as before. Senior assistants Andrew McDonald, Michael Di Venuto and Jeff Vaughan were given room to apply their specific coaching skill-sets to their portfolios. Success was shared across all the support staff. Credit must be given to Langer for enabling this.
On the CA side of the fence it only strengthened their case for change; change to a softer, man-managing person to work in a more subservient manner with the captains, and then in a less top-down approach with support staff and assistants.
If Langer has ever been a dead man walking, this is where it started.
Langer has every right to think of himself as central to Australian cricket. He played with everything showing on his sleeve, was a member of, arguably Australia’s greatest men's team, and now has resurrected the team as coach to deliver success, and somewhat of a change in perception.
With that being said …
Coaching in cricket is vastly different to other sports. Preparation; individually, skill-groups, and team is paramount. The cricket coach is responsible for all this - much like a trainer getting a racehorse into the stalls, and then handing over the reins to the jockey. The jockey has instructions, still, he is then left to navigate the race as he sees it. The captain still runs the team on a cricket field.
Langer could likely be an excellent football coach. All football codes sit their coaches on tree-high pedestals where they breathe the exalted air of power. Mistakingly, Langer has made reference to this and his want to be recognised similarly. He talks of Wayne Bennett, Alastair Clarkson and Alex Ferguson having elongated careers, and why shouldn’t I, or people like me, be afforded this opportunity.
This circles us back to the players. Managers, like the above, simply move and position their players like pawns (chess pieces) - keeping them guessing; the one motive being to maximise performance. Win and loss is critical, and there is very little ‘long-game’. And then, when there is trouble, they simply move players, bringing in new pieces when they need. Ferguson being the best example.
This is just not the case in the insular cricket world. Langer will fall foul of this.
Cricket Australia found their new long term captain - Pat Cummins will no doubt enjoy success in his role. His position in the team is almost peerless, the storied road to where he is now, is totally engaging, and his media persona is exactly what the CA marketing people want. Cricket Australia might have played the cards better than they ever could have expected.
Langer’s cards look like a bluffing hand. For the bluff to work, he is betting on CA folding with some short-term compassion. Two years would see him be part of; a Test series against England and India, a home T20 World Cup as holders, and Test matches against Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies. He will be aggrieved. Still, this looks reasonable remuneration on face (card) value.
For me, if I were standing behind Langer at the bluffing table, I would encourage him to throw the cards in - fold, and walk away with chips to spend.
Mr. Langer it is time for the ‘elite honesty’ test - use the mirrors you speak about, ask honest questions, and listen to what comes back. You will always have the back of the Australian cricket community.
Coaches are temporary, class is permanent.
As always, thank-you for being here. Please share this column with anyone you think might enjoy the read.