More thrills and spills ahead in T20 World Cup: Langer
AUSTRALIAN cricket coach Justin Langer is forecasting more thrilling finishes for the remainder of the T20 World Cup.
The Aussies began their World Cup campaign with a gritty, hard-earned win against South Africa in Abu Dhabi on Saturday night (AEDT).
Despite Australia only needing 119 runs to win, the match went down to the final over, when Marcus Stoinis hit two boundaries to get the side home.
Langer admitted that while he was on the edge of his seat right until the end, the tight, lowscoring nature of the contest didn’t come as a surprise.
“It’s going to be a really tough tournament. We’ve got a really tough draw,” Langer told reporters on Sunday.
“There’s going to be some very, very close games, I think. It’s usually what happens on these sort of wickets. The conditions are going to be conducive to tight games.
“I tend to bite my fingernails and there were a few tight moments yesterday but I’ve got a lot faith in this team.”
Cricket pundits predicted Langer would select two spinners in the 11 to face South Africa but surprisingly the coach omitted Ashton Agar from the side. In the past two years, the crafty spinner has taken more T20I wickets for Australia than any other player but Langer left him out to make room for three pace bowlers.
The coach said he didn’t make the decision lightly.
“I can’t emphasise enough how tough it was,” Langer said.
“We just decided to go for the extra quick instead of the extra spin. With all the analysis we’d done on South Africa, we thought that was the best way to win the game.”
Langer confirmed Agar and quick Kane Richardson were in good spirits despite being snubbed from the side.
“They were up and about yesterday with a smile on their faces and running around for the team,” he said.
“That’s what we hope all the boys will do depending on what the selection is per game.”
Langer said he had full confidence in opening batters Aaron Finch and David Warner.