Shane Warne has heaped pressure on Pat Cummins and the rest of the Australian dressing room after labelling the handling of Justin Langer’s exit a “disgrace”.
Despite overseeing a successful Ashes summer as well as a victorious T20 World Cup campaign, Langer was given no choice but to walk after a six-month contract extension offer from Cricket Australia.
The WA native’s exit was met with fury by a number of his ex-teammates, and Warne doubled down on his criticism of Cricket Australia’s handling of the saga.
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“I thought the treatment of Justin wasn’t right at all,” Warne told Fox Cricket.
“And take Justin Langer out of it. Even just the position of the men’s coach, I thought was really poor from Cricket Australia.
“The way it was handled, I thought was a disgrace.
“I don’t know if it was the right decision. I’m not sure how it got to that.
“It sounded like, what we’re hearing — and all we can do is go on what the players are saying — is the players didn’t want him anymore. He lost the dressing room — which I don’t know is right. I think you just want the best candidate for the job.”
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With player power having won after Langer’s exit, Warne said the pressure would fall on Test captain Pat Cummins and the rest of the Australian side.
“They basically got rid of the Australian coach,” he said. “So they want to start performing, because this is not a great Australian cricket team, the men’s Test team.
“They’re doing okay … we’re just starting to see the rewards for that by winning a World Cup, winning an Ashes series. So suddenly they’re starting to see the rewards, and now he’s gone.”