Sydney: Former Australian wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist has lashed out at Cricket Australia (CA) over its handling of the head coach Justin Langer issue, saying the 51-year-old former opener is being “painted as a monster”, which is not the case.
Langer stepped down as head coach of the Australian men’s cricket team despite leading the side to its maiden ICC T20 World Cup title in the UAE and a 4-0 win in the recently-concluded Ashes after he reportedly felt humiliated by CA for offering him only a six-month contract renewal for his efforts.
Reportedly unhappy with the treatment meted out by CA, Langer, whose contract was coming up for renewal in June this year after the month-long series against Pakistan, decided to step down five months before the expiry of his term and not fly out to Pakistan with the team.
Gilchrist, a former teammate of Langer, told sen.com.au on Monday that Langer was the kind of person who would acknowledge his frailties and always work out an amicable solution with players and support staff.
According to reports, Langer’s position as coach had become shaky in August last year after players and support staff had made their dislike known of his “volatile micromanagement style”.
“He’s been painted by some particular people as a monster, that is not Justin Langer,” said Gilchrist. “He’ll be the first to admit he has his frailties, he has his areas of weakness, but gee, he’ll sit and look you in the eye and work it out with you.
“So, to be painted as a monster, what sort of effect would that have on you personally and what’s the flow-on effect to your family and the people that are nearest and dearest to you, particularly through a period of time when you’re not nearly understanding what is going on, the consistent innuendo and rumour. I think he stated it perfectly in his resignation letter, honesty, respect, trust, truth performance,” added Gilchrist.
“And then unfortunately, he felt a compelling need to say if that’s been the trouble I apologise, they’re the foundations he bases his life on. I totally agree with him, (but) I unfortunately disagree with him that he felt a need to apologise because that shouldn’t be a situation.”
Gilchrist said it was good that Langer had resigned given that there were very “little” values coming from within Cricket Australia and the team, which he has stood for in his life.
“They could have offered him (Langer) a five-year deal, but I think through the last few days Justin realised that a lot of those key fundamentals and values that he has always and consistently based his life on, there was very little of that coming from either within the group or from Cricket Australia, and that’s where again where I think my focus goes to now,” Gilchrist continued.
“It’s done, the players know they have to manage that going forward now with whoever fills that role permanently, and they may well sit back in a year’s time and say, ‘Look, we did it, we got the results’, but the cost on a human being and a family and the method with which everyone has gone about this, nonetheless Cricket Australia and the board, it just stuns me. The personal capital and the human capital that they (CA and players) are prepared to churn and burn is extraordinary.
“I think it’s quite reckless and some of the decision-making over a long period of time in there has been fuelled by greed, it really leaves me staggered,” added Gilchrist.
(IANS)