Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley has revealed that Justin Langer was given a ‘take it or leave it’ six-month contract extension offer, which prompted the now-former coach to walk away.
Before today’s decision, Langer’s future had been up in the air for several months, with almost constant speculation over whether or not he would not be offered a new contract.
The Cricket Australia CEO confirmed Langer was offered just a six-month contract, with a coaching change to follow on after that deal.
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Assistant Andrew McDonald will lead the team in an interim capacity.
“We are disappointed that Justin decided not to accept this extension and instead resigned effective immediately but we understand and respect his decision,” Hockley said at a press conference on Saturday afternoon.
“These decisions are never easy.
“Many people will be disappointed by the decision to only offer Justin a short-term contract.
“The decision to start a process of transition is what we believe is in the best interests of the men’s team for unity and future success.”
Hockley also shot down the idea of there being two coaches for short and long-form cricket.
“As for splitting the roles, I think it remains our intention to keep an overarching head coach role, he said.
“I think going forward, we have such an exciting and important period of cricket. We have seven Test series, three on the subcontinent, two World Cups, one at home over the next 18 months.
“The current plan is to look to a point of [a] permanent successor to Justin, but we will continue to take a very project-focused approach to each of the series. Because it has worked so well over the course of the summer.”
During the 2020-21 summer reports of unease among the Test-playing group towards Langer first surfaced – reaching a point where the situation required mediation between the coach, Pat Cummins, then-Test captain Tim Paine, and limited-overs captain Aaron Finch.
Langer’s contract was set to expire after Australia’s tour of Pakistan, but he repeatedly said he would not travel if his contract situation was yet to be resolved.
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