Head coach Justin Langer has said that Australia are awaiting the performances from the "A" squad that is currently on the full tour of India before they announce the touring party for the upcoming Test tour of United Arab Emirates(UAE).
Australia "A" are in India to play a List A Quadrangular as well as two 4-day unofficial Tests, and the later is seen as a perfect audition for places when the selectors gather to pick the squad that face off against the Asian giants Pakistan.
"It's unprecedented. We're going to wait until probably a week before the UAE tour to select the (Test) team," Langer was quoted saying, "The answer is straight up 'no'. Do we know the best six batsmen in Australia? The answer is 'no'."
"It's two-fold with India and Australia A. One, we want to see who performs under pressure and two, we want to start to get some continuity in our side where possible, but we also need to reward performance, not just talent," he added.
Having now fully seen the perks of his job at the highest level on unsuccessful limited-overs tours to England and Zimbabwe, Langer admits of going through some sleepless nights.
He said, "It's the first time in my adult life I've woken up in the middle of the night, I did it a few times in England. I've done it a few times since I've been home. It's bizarre but hopefully as I start getting my feet under the table and I start knowing who I trust around my new team of people at Cricket Australia, hopefully, I start sleeping better." and added, "Certainly I'm gaining greater clarity in the foundations of what we are trying to achieve in the team for the next few years. I'm getting clarity about leadership. My huge focus is organic leadership and it can't just be about the title 'c' or 'vc', it's got to be about developing these young blokes."
"If I leave this role and there's probably six or seven guys who you could make captain tomorrow then I reckon I've done a pretty good job. Because if we do that then not only will we be playing good cricket and I reckon the Australian public will be proud of us again, we'll have earned respect and there will be plenty of heroes out there for Australian kids and that's the way it's always been in Australian cricket." he concluded.
(Inputs from Cricket.com.au)
