Justin Langer resigns as Australia head coach after controversial contract dispute

(Cricket news) Justin Langer has just resigned as head coach of Australia after 4 years at the helm. The decision comes after a lengthy meeting where the board offered Langer a short term contract that will last until the end of this year's T20 World Cup, which he rejected. The decision has caused a huge outrage towards Cricket Australia by Australian fans, experts and former players.

 

There were always rumours that Langer never had the backing of the dressing room as the players didn't like his style of management. Reportedly the final nail in the coffin was that the new Test captain Pat Cummins didn't want Langer to continue as coach. The Western Australian did a wonderful job in the 4 years he was incharge of the team where he took the team out of a dark pit and made them great once again. Langer publicly said that all he wanted to do was to make Australian people proud of this team again which he managed to do.

 

Langer took charge of the Australian team after the sandpaper gate. His first major challenge was when India toured Australia. The Men in Blue won a Test series in Australia for the first time ever but since then the side recovered from it well and managed to retain the Ashes for the first time since 2005. He took Australia to the 2019 World Cup Semi finals. In 2020/21 Australia under Langer once again lost a Test series to India at home.

 

The last 6 months were probably the most successful ones where he led Australia to a win in the T20 World Cup and also defeated England 4-0 in the Ashes series. The decision to not offer Langer a contract is a strange one considering the results he has delivered. Having said that, if he doesn't have the backing of the dressing room it doesn't make sense to continue with him for the long term. But the question still remains why did the CA think that offering a short term contract instead of a long term one was a good idea. Is there something he had to prove that he hadn't done. 

 

Australia now gear up for the tour of Pakistan where former assistant coach Andrew McDonald will take charge of the team on a part time basis. Jason Gillespie, Trevor Bayliss, Ricky Ponting, David Saker, Gary Kristen and McDonald himself are candidates for the permanent role.

 

Also read: India look to bounce back from whitewash in South Africa against the West Indies

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