Senior Australian players reportedly not happy with Langer's coaching style.
Australia head coach Justin Langer said he isn’t going to ignore the reports that the senior cricketers of the team were frustrated with his micro-managing coaching style.
The reports surfaced following the recent disappointing Test series against India while saying the criticism will be a great gift in the coming weeks or months.
According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, Australia’s senior players find assistant coach Andrew McDonald more approachable than head coach Langer. However, Langer said the criticism is absolutely a wake-up call but preferred to call himself “a novice coach”.
As reported by ESPNcricinfo, Langer said: “I'm not going to ignore this, of course, and absolutely it is a wake-up call. Whenever I finish this coaching career I hope I'm still calling myself a novice coach...I'll see this criticism as a great gift in a few weeks or months.”
He added, “My greatest mentors in life are the people who told me the truth and were toughest on me, and I've always needed that honest feedback. I might not enjoy it at the time, but it is so, so valuable.”
Langer also reacted to the Sydney Morning Herald’s claim of some senior cricketers annoyed with his micro-management within the Australian camp, saying he never attends bowlers' meetings or talks about the stats with them.
He signed off by saying, “Leadership isn't a popularity contest. If players just want someone to tickle their stomachs all the time then I'm not doing my job. It's actually the opposite of what happens.
I never talk about statistics to the bowlers, ever. I don't go to any of the bowlers' meetings. That's what the bowlers' coach is meant to be doing.”
(With ANI/ Sydney Morning Herald/ESPNCricinfo Inputs)