Healy says Langer can ‘get job done’

IAN Healy believes Justin Langer can lead a Bob Simpson-style revival of a tortured Test team he insists is better than the one he started in 30 years ago.

Test wicketkeeping great Healy was a central figure in reviving Australian cricket from the dark days of the mid-1980s to a prosperous, world-beating 1990s but when he joined the side in 1988 they had just broken a four-year winless streak of Test series.

Healy sees strong similarities between the two eras and remembers well the time it took a nation of cricket fans to embrace the side as it prospered under the hardworking hand of master coach Simpson.

“What former players have got to do is remember how bad we were,’’ Healy said.

“I think this team is better than the team I started with in 1988. And I liken the two eras. That is where we are – 1987 was a bit of rebuild in one-day cricket when we won the World Cup. We also won the Ashes in 1989 and no one would talk to us.

“We would go into restaurants and bars and no one would say, ‘well done boys’. The hard yards this team are putting in will reap great rewards.

“I think our players are talented. They might not be as confident as they are going to be but hard work will get them there.

“The key is hard work. Becoming a better slips fielder, a better high ball fieldsman, better fitness and technique and be patient when you need to. That will make you a more confident person and player.

“Then your talent comes out. We have the right man in Justin Langer to really punch that hard work and skill repetition into the team in the way they can get confidence exactly like Bob Simpson did to us.”

Healy has noted the decline in textbook techniques and feels the quirky batting genius of Steve Smith has dragged coaches and young players away from trusted methods.

“Whether Renshaw is in the first Test team or not, I take my hat off to him because he scores runs at every level he puts in to, making a club hundred on the weekend. I would like to see him in but I don’t know the options (or) how Usman Khawaja is coming up with his injured knee.

“Every time Joe Burns has batted in club cricket he has made a hundred. It is an amazing performance.”

Healy believes both should be strong chances to play in the first Test against India in Adelaide on December 6.

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