JL tells of Simpson inspiration
Langer gets lift from the man who’s been there
JUSTIN Langer has been inspired by the encouragement of the only coach in Australian cricket who can truly relate to what he’s going through.
Bob Simpson came into the coaching chair in the mid-1980s with the game in crisis. Australia had gone four years without a Test series win and players were defecting to the South African rebel tours, leaving Simpson’s side in disarray.
But he turned them around with discipline and hard work and a brilliant natural eye for talent. Langer debuted as a young player under Simpson’s mentorship back in 1993, but his appreciation for what the former Test great had done for Australian cricket has grown exponentially since he took over as a coach in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal.
The pair were reunited at a Bradman Foundation function in Sydney this week and as Langer prepares to lead his side up Mount Everest, he was given same sage advice from Simpson, now 82, not to try and change the world in one summer.
“I think I would say to keep it simple,” Simpson said.
“Don’t try and do the impossible. Look at what you can do in this particular moment so you can do it for longer.”
Players used to grumble at Simpson — the notorious hard task master — but beneath the surface there was enormous respect. Langer says in his current predicament, he regards Simpson as an “inspiration”.
“He set the scene for what it means to be an Australian cricketer,” Langer said.
“Now that I’ve taken over the role he once had he’s an absolute inspiration. I hope I can do half the job he did back then.”
Test great Ricky Ponting was Langer’s assistant for the mid-year ODI tour of the UK and gave a glowing assessment of the culture his former teammate had created — even though England whitewashed Australia 5-0. Ponting agreed with Simpson that it would be a long road to get Australian cricket back to where it was.
“I’ve been around and worked with JL for the five one-dayers in the UK in JuneJuly… I can guarantee what I saw, witnessed, heard and watched, there’s no doubt in my mind that this Australian cricket team and every single one of its players that come into contact with him are 100 per cent on the right track,” Ponting said.