Australian head coach Justin Langer has defended Tim Paine as captain and Steve Smith as a senior player amidst talks of leadership issues among the two.
Former Australian skipper Steve Smith cannot lead the team until March 2020 because of the ban. Therefore, the leadership roles have been given to Tim Paine and his deputy Travis Head in the longest format. However, it is believed by some that Smith has been making changes on the field without the consent of Paine.
AUS v PAK 2019: Ian Chappell accuses Steve Smith of ‘white-anting’ Tim Paine in Adelaide Test
The world No. 2 Test batsman has been accused of ‘white-anting’ the captain by the former Australian former and now commentator, Ian Chappell. He had expressed his disappointment on the radio saying that he did not like ‘blokes other than the captain’ moving the field around and that it was ‘white-anting the captain’.
Coach Justin Langer found it strange coming from Chappell, who has been a former Australian captain himself and a very respectable commentator for a long time now. “I think Ian Chappell, who I obviously have great respect for as a former captain and a long-time commentator, I just felt that was really strange,” Langer exclaimed.
“It would be absolutely ridiculous of Tim Paine not to be looking like all captains do, and having a talk to Steve Smith, who has been a former captain of Australia, and David Warner and Travis Head, who is a captain of South Australia and a [Test] vice-captain, and a group of senior bowlers. He'd be crazy,” he added.
Langer wants that all the players in the team must start thinking like the captain which would make it easier for Paine to go to a player and ask for suggestions in difficult situations.
“We want to encourage all our guys to think like captains. We want to encourage them to think like captains and leaders on and off the field. So, it'd be ridiculous for Painey not to be asking for it and then channeling the information as is required to whoever needs it. I was actually pleased to see our guys having a leadership impact on the ground,” the 49-year-old said.
(Source: Sunday Morning Herald)
