The Australian men’s cricket team may still be celebrating their maiden Twenty20 World Cup victory, but already the topic of conversation is turning towards coach Justin Langer, and his future in the post.
Langer’s contract with Cricket Australia expires after the team’s mooted tour of Pakistan in March and early April.
An announcement is yet to be made on whether he will be offered an extension, or whether one would be accepted, given the controversial few months Langer has recently endured.
READ MORE: Papali’i rejects huge Dolphins offer
Murmurs began last summer of player unrest in Langer’s camp. He wasn’t portrayed in an overly positive light in Amazon’s docuseries ‘The Test’, which was released the previous year.
Australia lost last summer’s Test series to India, then lost a T20I series to New Zealand, then lost consecutive T20I series to West Indies and Bangladesh on what turned out to be a horror mid-year tour for the side from Down Under.
It was during that failed tour news leaked of a heated confrontation Langer had with a CA media team member.
Around the same time, Langer was confronted with more questions over his coaching style, and had to front senior players Tim Paine, Aaron Finch, and Pat Cummins to hear some hard truths.
Langer agreed to relinquish some control to senior players and his assistant coaches, which he recently said he found “liberating”.
READ MORE: Kyrgios says 2022 Australian Open should be cancelled
READ MORE: Scottie Pippen says Michael Jordan ‘ruined basketball’
Australia sprung a surprise by winning the T20 World Cup only a couple of months after failing to beat the Windies or Bangladesh.
Nonetheless, retired Test champion Michael Clarke believes Langer will walk away from the job at the end of this Australian summer.
“I reckon Australia is going to win the Ashes… and JL is going to resign,” Clarke told Sky Sports Radio’s The Big Sports Breakfast.
“He’s going to say; ‘you know what? I’ve achieved what I’ve come here to achieve, I’ve copped so much criticism, had so much stick put on me. I’ve done my time. I’ve come to do a job and get Australia back to No.1 in the world, I’ve done that, I’m out of here’.
“I don’t reckon he will go (to Pakistan).
“I reckon his last match will be the last Test match of the Ashes series. Australia will win and then they’ll take a new coach to Pakistan.
“Don’t get me wrong, I hope I’m wrong. I think Langer is the right guy to be coaching Australia right now, I think he’s done an absolutely brilliant job.
“But I think with all the criticism… it’s a little bit like Ricky Ponting at the end of his career. Punter got to a stage where all the criticism finally caught up with him and he said, ‘you know what, I’ve done everything I can, my time is up, I’m out of here’.”
Langer was jettisoned into the role of head coach when Darren Lehmann sensationally stood down after the disastrous Cape Town ball-tampering scandal in early 2018.
The Aussies were accused of having become a win-at-all-costs squad, and Cricket Australia was desperate to change the image of the once-proud team.
Langer, alongside new captain Tim Paine, were tasked with leading that transition and it’s fair to say they’ve completed the mission, albeit Australia hasn’t enjoyed a glut of on-field success recently (before the World Cup).
Now, though, Australia needs to start winning.
They sit third on the ICC Test rankings, third in ODIs and sixth in T20Is, even after the World Cup victory.
Clarke believes national coach-in-waiting Jason Gillespie will be offered the job after Langer.
But the former Test captain wants Cricket Australia to mix-up the system.
“I think there’s an opportunity to look at two coaches – a short-form specialist and a long-form specialist,” Clarke said.
“The only problem with that is, is there enough money in the pot for the two coaches to get paid and do the work?
“Even though it’s Test cricket only, it’s a little bit like (coaching rugby league’s State of) Origin, it’s still a full-time job.
“As long as they can pay both coaches enough money, I think it might be the right time to transition into a short-form coach and a long-form coach.”
The Ashes kicks off at the Gabba on December 8.
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!