Sydney: Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has urged Cricket Australia (CA) to decide Justin Langer’s future as the head coach ‘ASAP’.
Over the past few days, reports in Australia said Langer was asked by CA chief executive Nick Hockley and head of performance Ben Oliver to re-apply for the head coach job.
Langer, appointed to the role in 2018 after the sandpaper scandal at Cape Town, guided Australia to its maiden Men’s T20 World Cup title in the UAE last year followed by winning the Ashes 4-0.
Now, Clarke, a former team-mate of Langer, believes the suspense on Langer’s future should stop.
“What JL has done since taking over the coaching role after the sandpaper saga and really trying to find a way to bring Australia back to the cricket team that we were, even in regards to earning that respect from fans and other teams, he has done such a good job.
“Hopefully, whatever is going to go down, it goes down ASAP,” said Clarke on Sky Sports Radio’s Big Sports Breakfast show on Wednesday.
“If Lang (Langer) is gonna resign, do it ASAP. If Cricket Australia are going to make him reapply for his job and he doesn’t want to do that and he quits, do it ASAP. If they are going to offer him a contract, let’s get this done because it is horrible at the moment. We’ve just had an awesome summer — we won the T20 World Cup, we just beat England 4-zip, and now we’re reading this on the back of the papers,” added Clarke, the 2015 Men’s Cricket World Cup-winning captain.
Clarke expressed his anger over leaks in the media happening around Langer’s meeting with Hockley and Oliver. “I have been continuing to read about this saga going on about Justin Langer — my god, I was on the phone all night last night talking to a bunch of different people, and just waking up this morning I can’t put my phone down.”
He also hinted about where the leaks could have come from. “I can’t believe all this information can get out from a meeting. I know when I was playing and I was captain, I used to question how certain things got out and there’s no doubt that individual players have individual managers, so you can push your own agenda — I get all of that.”
The 40-year-old signed off by saying that the whole turn of events haven’t been great for both Langer and CA. “This is splashed over the media and there’s inside gossip — you’ve got pretty much exactly what happened in the meeting with Cricket Australia for everyone to read. How does that happen? How can that not stay private?”
“It’s out of control. I don’t know what side it’s come from home or how it’s got out — I’ve got a fair idea — but either way, this is not helping. It’s not great for Lang and it’s certainly not great for Cricket Australia.”
IANS
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