Justin Langer, Australian coach said his side would be ready to face an awesome England team with superior batting lineup after he watched them during their Twenty20 series against Pakistan. England won by 5 wickets chasing 196 against Pakistan in the second T20I but lost by 5 runs chasing 191 against Pakistan in the third one as the series ended 1-1 with the first match washed out.
Justin Langer’s men face England next in three T20s at Southampton, with the opener their first major match since March, before playing the 50-over world champions in three one-day internationals in Manchester. Mostly due to the corona-virus pandemic, all the ODIs were scheduled at Manchester while the 3 T20Is were scheduled at Aegis Bowl, Southampton.
Justin Langer Wary Of England Especially Skipper Eoin Morgan And Recalls Loses
Justin Langer told during a conference call from Australia’s training base in Southampton on Wednesday, that he was wary of Eoin Morgan’s men.
“Dangerous… that’s what I made of England. I’ve watched the way Eoin Morgan plays, it’s exciting to watch, he just comes out and smacks it from ball one.”
“They’ve been the best one-day team in the world for a few years now…. We came here two years ago and got smashed 5-0,” added Langer.
“We came here last year, won two out of three games, just didn’t win the big one in the (World Cup) semi-final. They are a very good cricket team, well-led.”
“We know what to expect and we’ll be ready.”
Justin Langer took over as coach ahead of the England tour in 2018 with Australia still reeling from the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa, that resulted in year-long bans for former captain Steve Smith and star batsman David Warner.
“When we came here two years ago we were at crisis point,” he said.
“We were copping it from everywhere and rightly so. The team had made a terrible error in judgement in South Africa.”
Australia lost 5 ODIs and a solitary T20I in England after losing to South Africa 3-1 in Tests.
Justin Langer Says They Were Respected In England After Australia Fought In Ashes
Australia are now the world’s top-ranked Test and Twenty20 side but are placed 5th in ODI rankings. Steve Smith who was one of the disputed infamous trios of the ball-tampering scandal came back after a year and performed extraordinary well against England in Tests where he averages a staggering 62.84.
“Where we’ve come in two years, I’ve talked about it over and over, we had to earn back respect internationally, we had to make Australians back home proud of us,” said Langer.
“One of the highlights of my coaching career was when Steve Smith walked off the ground in the last Test of last year (at the Oval) and got a standing ovation, he only got 20-odd runs.”
“From the hostilities we received from when we first arrived in England to seeing that moment, hopefully, we’ve started to earn respect back,” he added.
Steven Smith scored as many as 774 runs in 4 Tests averaging 110.57 in 2019 Ashes series. Justin Langer said the fact Australia were now having to live in a bio-secure bubble, would not alter his approach to coaching.