Former Australia opener Matthew Hayden has shown disappointment with the way Justin Langer was treated in the last weeks as he eventually stepped down from the role on Saturday to finish his 4-year stint. His contract was set to expire in June but he resigned it with an immediate effect.
Langer was handed over the responsibility after the famous Sandpaper Gate in Cape Town 2018 and since then he turned things around as he took the team to no.1 rank in ICC Test Ranking. Australia also won their maiden T20 World cup under his leadership.
Justin Langer was appointed Australia’s head coach in March 2018
But during the whole review process, he didn’t receive any support from the players or captains. His former opening partner Matthew Hayden slammed Pat Cummins for the lack of support. Notable that Cummins said that Cricket Australia has every right to review Langer’s performance when he was asked if Langer should get an extension.
“It was absolutely clear that no one backed him. If you listen to the Australian captain speak the other day, there was not one mention of any sort of commendation or support. That would have been extremely hurtful.” Matthew Hayden spoke to ABC Radio.
“How do you reckon he’d be going? To hear the Australian captain on Sunrise offer no support and commendation. How would you feel?” he added further.
Notable that Cummins was appointed test captain only before the Ashes and he finished as the leading wicket-taker with 21 scalps. Hayden further pointed out that Langer had to stay in Melbourne for a month during the whole review process but Cricket Australia failed to repay the faith back.
“This was a bloke (Langer) that won the Ashes, stayed back basically in Melbourne for the entire time while this dragged on for a month. The whole thing just reeks of being orchestrated from basically the moment all of this garbage started coming out in the middle of last year,” Hayden said.
“You could see that the writing was on the wall. If I had a bet back then that Justin Langer would have retained his spot at the end of his contract, I would have put my whole life’s savings on him not doing it,” he added.
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