Australia’s white-ball skipper Aaron Finch on Thursday (July 1) revealed that head coach Justin Langer has addressed players’ concerns about his coaching style that led to talk of unrest within the squad.
Earlier, media reports suggested that after the Test-series loss against an under-strength Indian side, there was discontent in the Australian dressing room. As a result, season review was held by leadership consultant Tim Ford.
"Over a couple of days on the Gold Coast we had a great camp...the ability for Justin Langer to address a few issues that came up in the review with Tim Ford, that was brilliant from him to tackle them head-on, suppose put his side of the story, that shows the quality of the man he is and things he's working on," ESPNcricinfo quoted Finch as saying.
"We are all behind him 100 per cent, the way he's coached Australia in the last couple of years has been fantastic, think we've had some really good success. No doubt it was quite confronting for him at the time but he took it head-on and it was great. Very positive from our point of view," he added.
In the wake of the India series loss, reports have emerged that everything is not well between the Australian cricketers and Langer as the latter’s intense “micro-management” coaching style hasn’t reportedly been liked by a lot of players.
In the season review, it was being said that Langer's working style was a major point and it needs to be discussed. Michael Di Venuto has joined the team set up for the West Indies and Bangladesh tours as an assistant coach alongside Andrew McDonald.
"Think there was a combination of a few things. On the back of a lot of bubbles as well think he could have used his assistants a little better and delegated in that regard but there was nothing groundbreaking. It was stuff every player and every coach would reflect on themselves. The way he confronted that and the way it was received by the players was outstanding," said Finch.
Australia will play five T20Is and three ODIs during the Caribbean tour. Subsequently, they will visit Bangladesh for five T20Is.
"We are going to have to manage players a little differently over the coming 12-24 months, however long the way cricket is. So while it's not the perfect preparation we are not alone in that and it will give an opportunity to continue to develop our depth and find some more solutions," Finch stated.
