Justin Langer said he has had no contact from the England and Wales Cricket Board about the men’s Test coach role and questioned whether a split coaching structure could work. The 55-year-old Australian, who played 105 Tests for Australia and coached them between 2018 and 2022, said he has not spoken to the ECB even though he was an early frontrunner for the post.
Has Langer been approached by the ECB?
No. Langer said he has not heard from anyone at the ECB, although he did not rule out taking the job if it were offered. Preliminary interviews have now been held with the candidates favoured by Rob Key, the ECB’s managing director of men’s cricket, after the vacancy opened earlier this month.
Those believed to be in contention include Tom Moody, another Australian, the New Zealander Stephen Fleming, and the English coaches Jonathan Trott and Richard Dawson.
“I haven’t heard from anyone”
Langer said that, despite the lack of contact, he would not dismiss the possibility of coaching England. He described the England, Australia and India head-coach roles as the biggest in world cricket and said all opportunities are considered during a coaching career.
“There’s three [main] coaching roles in the world: the Australia head coach, the India head coach and the England head coach,”
“It’s all hypothetical, isn’t it? They’re the biggest teams … When it comes to coaching, it is a career and everyone looks at all opportunities, don’t they?”
Can England make a split coaching model work?
Langer said England’s plan to have a new red-ball coach alongside Brendon McCullum, who remains in charge of the white-ball sides, would only work if the two leaders were closely aligned. Speaking on the Stick to podcast, he said he would want oversight of all men’s senior teams if appointed and believed the best chance of success would be for England to choose a Test coach with an approach identical to McCullum’s.
“It can work if you get the right people, and they’ve got to get on very well, they’ve got to have the same thinking,”
“My personal view has always been that if you’re the head coach you should oversee all of it. It doesn’t mean you have to be there for all of it. But they’ve got to be really on the same page. And the director of cricket has to be. They’ve got to work hand in glove. If they work well together it could work, but there hasn’t been too many examples where it has worked.
“If you’re the head coach of the Test team, you want your 11 best players on the park. It’s personnel, that’s a big part of it. What’s more important, the World Test Championship or the T20 World Cup? It’s like a game of chess now, honestly.”
Langer is in England coaching Manchester Super Giants, who after two completed games remain unbeaten in the Hundred. He also used the interview to criticise the technique of some current England batters, saying he was concerned by what he saw during last year’s Ashes.
“What I am nervous about, watching the Ashes last year, is the deterioration of batting technique,”
“In short-form cricket we all see these tricks, slower balls and wide yorkers. If you’re bold enough as a bowler to bowl a good length, even in T20 now, you’re going to expose batters because there’s no footwork. Players just think they’re going to go and tee off.”
