Cricket Australia has denied the reports of head coach Justin Langer throwing a tantrum and going ballistic after being told that he might have to reapply for his job. Langer's four-year contract ends in mid-2022 and there is speculation over his future.
Langer led Australia to their maiden T20 World Cup win recently and then defeated England 4-0 at home in the Ashes series. However, under his guidance, Australia lost two back-to-back Test series at home to India as well.
Local media reports said Langer, whose intense management style created dressing room tensions last year, "went ballistic" during talks with senior Cricket Australia staff over his future. The former opener was not happy to hear that he will need to reapply for the job he took in 2018 in the aftermath of the ball-tampering scandal.
"While we do not comment on confidential conversations, we felt on this occasion it was important to correct the record. Among other false claims, we reject outright the assertion that the meeting was fiery or heated and that Justin was asked to reapply for his job,” Cricket Australia said in a statement.
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The governing body said it would make an announcement when the contract discussions were complete.
Though the 51-year-old restored the Australian team’s pride after the ball-tampering scandal, there have long been rumors of discontent over his "headmaster-like" leadership style and former captain Tim Paine revealed last August that players had complained to Langer about the issue.
Meanwhile, Langer’s former teammate and former captain Mark Taylor has said that there has been a push for moving on from Langer within the Australian camp because he has achieved the goal of cleaning up the team culture after the 2018 cheating scandal.
"(Now) there's a movement –- maybe by the players, maybe by Cricket Australia themselves –- that (the) job has been done, and it might be time for more of a man manager and less of an absolute cricket coach and disciplinarian," Taylor told Sydney's 2GB radio.
(AFP inputs)
