Former Australian test opener and Western Australia coach Justin Langer is set to take over the coaching duties from Darren Lehmann for Australia’s tour of West Indies, where the Kangaroos are set to participate in a tri series also featuring the hosts and South Africa in mid 2016. The reason given by Lehmann to take a break is that he wants to prepare for Australia’s overseas tours later that year.
Pat Howard, an official of Cricket Australia seconded Langer’s temporary appointment as the coach. “Given the amount of cricket coming up on the international calendar, we’ve tried to find some time for Darren to plan and focus on the next period for the Australian side,”
Howard said. “Justin Langer has done an outstanding job, taking his teams to the finals of our three domestic competitions last year, and winning two of them.” “He’s also done a very good job preparing WA players to represent Australia.
This appointment to cover the limited-overs series in the Caribbean is a great reward for that excellent work.” Lehmann on the other hand, reflected back on his tenure and said, “I haven’t got any date in mind, hopefully I’ll go for a while yet.”
“I don’t think you can do it long, long term, you’re away 300 days a year. You’ve got to find a happy medium, try to tick off all the boxes you want to as a coach, and hopefully if you’ve achieved them it’s someone else’s term.” “I’ve got some things I want to tick the boxes off as a coach, and players have to become better as we’re always trying to do anyway.
I think we’ve got a pretty good system at the moment, we seem to be playing reasonably well, that’s a pleasing thing. Now it’s a case of developing other coaches under you all the time to make sure they get opportunities as well,” Lehmann added.