Aussie coach Langer fights concern over ‘headmaster like’ leadership
Australia coach Justin Langer has taken on board negative feedback of his leadership style, confronting the issues head-on at a team meeting ahead of their West Indies tour, skipper Aaron Finch said on Thursday.
Langer came under the microscope ater Australia’s 2-1 Test series defeat to India in January, when reports surfaced about discontent over his “headmaster-like” style of leadership and shiting moods.
Finch said Langer, who is taking charge in the West Indies for the first time since then, raised the issue at a recent pre-departure meeting.
“The ability of JL (Langer) to address some issues that came up... that was brilliant for him to tackle them head-on and I suppose put his side of the story, put his spin on it,” Finch said via Zoom from St Lucia.
“It showed the quality of the man he is, the things that he’s working on.
“We’re all behind him 100 percent,” he added. “The way he’s coached Australia in the last couple of years has been fantastic, we’ve had some really good success as well.
“No doubt it was quite confronting for him at the time (the discontent surfaced), but it was very positive from our point of view.”
Langer in February admited he had been “grumpy and intense since I was 16 years old”, but that hearing criticism of him through the media was hard to take.
“That’s the killer. I’ve talked for years about honest conversations and the worst part about it all for me was it came out two weeks ater the Test match,” he said. Finch suggested the high-pressure situation last summer and the taxing nature of the bio-secure bubbles contributed to Langer’s tension.
“There was a combination of a few things,” he said. “On the back a lot of bubbles as well, he could have used his assistants a litle bit beter and delegated a bit more.
“But there was nothing ground-breaking -there’s stuff that every player and every coach would reflect on themself. He’s no different.
“He’s done a fantastic job. The way he confronted that and the way it was received by the players was outstanding.”
Australia arrived in the West Indies this week for five Twenty20s in St Lucia from July 10, followed by three one-dayers in Barbados.
They are missing some of their top names, including David Warner, Pat Cummins and Glenn Maxwell, who all opted out with fatigue ater spending considerable time in bio-secure bubbles over the past few months.
Finch suggested the high-pressure situation last summer and the taxing nature of the bio-secure bubbles contributed to Langer’s tension
Steve Smith is also absent as he struggles with an elbow injury.
Meanwhile, Cricket Australia is planning on big crowds for the Ashes series against England later this year, with venues being sold to full capacity despite ongoing concerns about Covid-19.
Chief executive Nick Hockley said tickets would go on sale Monday with all stadiums sold to their limit except the 100,000-seat Melbourne Cricket Ground which will have an initial capacity of 85 percent.
“The Ashes rivalry is one of the biggest in world sport, and we hope that conditions will allow as many fans as possible to atend,” Hockley said in a statement late Wednesday.
“In the event that capacities are reduced due to government restrictions associated with the pandemic, we of course guarantee fans full refunds.”
The five-test series is due to start in Brisbane on December 8 before a day/night match in Adelaide, followed by the traditional Boxing Day Test in Melbourne then Sydney and Perth.
Hockley’s optimism comes despite Sydney, Brisbane and Perth currently in lockdown ater a flare-up of the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19 which has seen sports events scamble to shit their games out of those cities.
With barely five months until the Ashes starts, it remains highly unlikely that the usual hordes of Barmy Army supporters will be able to travel to Australia, given current bans on international arrivals.