Langer: I’d have ball-tampered too
New Australia cricket coach Justin Langer has admitted he would have ball-tampered if he’d been ordered to as a young player.
Langer was speaking to Australia’s Channel Nine in the wake of his appointment as national coach in the fallout to the cheating scandal that has seen skipper Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and Cameron Bancroft banned.
Bancroft, the team’s youngest and least experienced player, used sandpaper on the ball against South Africa.
Langer is desperate to discover how the team culture sunk so low.
Langer related the situation to his own times in the baggy green cap and said the scenario would never have happened because of the tough stance of those in control of the team.
‘‘When I first became an Australian cricketer, if Allan Border had asked me to tamper with the ball I would have, because I would be too scared not too,’’ Langer told Channel Nine.
‘‘The difference is that Allan Border would never have asked me, and Bobby Simpson [coach] would have killed me. He would have killed anyone who brought the game into disrepute.
‘‘What I can’t believe is that Cameron Bancroft walked into the Australian cricket team and he was in a position where he made that decision.
‘‘In terms of the culture and how it got to that point I don’t know, I am not close enough to say. But I will certainly find out. I will be walking into the cauldron soon and I’ll find out.’’
Langer has replaced Darren Lehmann as coach after Lehmann resigned at the end of the tour of South Africa.