Justin Langer resigns as Australia’s head coach effective immediately

Even after the Australian Cricket Board has tried their best to convince Justin Langer to extend his contract, the former Australian opener denied it and eventually resigned as the head coach of the Australian Cricket team. In a time, when the team is playing some good cricket, off the field activities is really bothering the team. First, the ‘good boy’ of the Australian Cricket had to resign following a sexual scandal and now the man who brought a lot of prestige back in Australia after the Sandpaper saga had to leave not in good terms.

Langer’s former teammates Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden is furious the way the Australian board has handled the situation. The World Cup winning Captain said, “I think it is a really sad day as far as Australian Cricket is concerned”. He further added, “If you look back, it’s been a really poor six months. I think the way the board as a whole have handled some of the better people in Australian cricket, Justin Langer and Tim Paine, I think it’s been almost embarrassing with the way they have handled those two cases”.

On Friday, the board had a meeting for seven long hours to discuss the future of Justin Langer and of course Australian cricket. After the meeting, Langer was given a short-term contract extension, which the legend absolutely refused.

Langer deserves a lot of credit for holding Australia’s hand when it wasn’t safe to do so. After the famous South Africa series, the team was cornered and two of their best players were suspended for a year. From there, the coach will be leaving after winning the T20 World Series and then the prestigious Ashes by 4-0. He should be proud of his work and the way he handled Australian cricket in their one of the toughest periods in history.

The board has accepted his resignation on Saturday morning and in a statement has said that, “The board has accepted men’s team head coach Justin Langer’s resignation, which was received today”. It further read, “Justin was offered a short-term extension to his current contract, which sadly he has opted not to accept. The board would like to thank Justin for his outstanding leadership since he became Australian men’s team coach in 2018 and guiding the team to the T20 World Series last year and the 4-0 Ashes victory”.

If reports are to be believed, then Langer was not really a favorite in the Australian dressing room. He demanded a lot from his team which the members felt too much at times. Speaking to the press last year, Langer has accepted that he gets intense and grumpy at times and said that he isn’t perfect. Amidst all this, he continued to give result that favored Australian cricket. The board has confirmed that Andrew McDonald will serve as the interim head coach until the board finds a permanent solution.