Australian captain Aaron Finch has described the mounting speculation surrounding Justin Langer’s head coach position as “a difficult time” and “not ideal” heading into Australia’s T20 World Cup campaign and the international home summer.
A reported heated public discussion between Langer, team manager Gavin Dovey, and a Cricket Australia digital journalist over a video of Bangladesh’s team celebrations that was tweeted after Bangladesh secured the recent T20 International series is the latest incident to fuel conjecture around Langer’s coaching style.
Dovey has admitted he could have handled the situation in a better manner.
Langer’s former teammate Adam Gilchrist has defended the Australia coach on his SEN radio show, while suggesting leaks from within the Australian camp threatened to derail the summer if Cricket Australia did not move quickly to clarify Langer’s position. Langer has almost a year to run on his four-year contract.
“Justin is very aware of these perceived issues with his management style – and he’s going to keep trying to work with that and I’m sure the players will try to work alongside that as well,” said Gilchrist on SEN WA’s Gilly and Goss on Monday.
“But the bigger issue – and it will derail the summer if it doesn’t get sorted out – is the fact these journalists have direct line of contact with people within the inner sanctum there – and the people in that inner sanctum are happy to let it get out.
“It is going to derail the summer if they don’t get a hold of it. So, Cricket Australia need to try to address this very quickly.
“If everyone believes the best thing to do is move on from Justin Langer as a coach, do it sooner rather than later, because it’s just going to create a side issue, which will continue to be a circus.”
When asked by Sporting News if Langer was the right man to lead Australia to the T20 World Cup and the summer beyond, Finch responded:
“No doubt when he took over the job he had a really difficult job to be able to take over after Cape Town.
“I haven't spoken to anyone from Cricket Australia so I don't know what's happening behind the scenes.
“Justin and mine’s relationship has grown a lot over the last particularly 12 months.
“I think we've started to work more and more on, I suppose, our relationship as well so it's just one of those things.
“Anytime that the team's losing there's going to be questions asked, no doubt a difficult time and not ideal when it all plays out the way that it has.”
The scrutiny of Langer’s coaching methods comes at a particularly testing time for Australia.
The winter tour of the Caribbean and Bangladesh was intended to provide useful preparation ahead of the World Cup but, with several players opting out of the tour and some poor batting performances, Australia lost both T20 series 4-1.
Finch missed the Bangladesh leg of the tour after injuring his knee and is now recovering from surgery.
“The surgery went really well, the surgeon was happy. I'll see him again on Friday, but so far it's been good,” said Finch.
“I was in a brace for the first couple of days and that’s off and now it’s trying to get swelling down and get a little bit of movement into it which has been okay.”
The Australian captain watched the series while in quarantine and admitted it made for difficult viewing but he is hopeful the return of experienced players, several of whom will play in the remainder of the suspended IPL in Dubai ahead of the World Cup, will vastly improve Australia’s chances.
“I think the IPL will become really good preparation for guys who haven't played a huge amount of cricket lately, particularly playing in the same conditions, playing in Abu Dhabi and Dubai where our group games are, will be really beneficial,” Finch said.
“I think the guys that will be in the IPL are quite experienced as well so it'll give them another opportunity to keep adding to that.
“I think that in terms of the Bangladesh series, the wickets were probably something I haven't seen, the ball spins so inconsistently as it did.
“I know that there was a huge amount of rain around in the lead up so that no doubt plays a part in it as well but I think what was evident was that we just got caught a little bit in two minds at times.
“It was either 100% attack or quite defensive. There wasn't a huge amount of middle ground so guys just continuing to make sure that they're adding layers to their game playing their percentages as opposed to, I suppose, just looking to go one way, which you can get away with at times in Australia because the wickets are a bit truer and the ball bounces a bit more consistently in terms of it more consistently when it does so, just giving yourself a few more options I guess is going to be important going forward.
“I'm not taking anything away from Bangladesh, they were bloody impressive in that series.”
As Finch’s side searches for ways to innovate on the field they may receive help from an initiative between CA and it’s official digital technology partner, HCL.
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Finch sees the project as an interesting way to build on the growing use of data and analytics to improve on-field performances.
“It's about trying to sort of innovate that side of the game,” said Finch. “I think there's still a a gap there and it’s about trying to push that as far forward as we can and come up with some implementable solutions for on and off field that can then help the team.
“I think it can give us a little bit of a deeper dive and probably get some people thinking a little bit left field of the traditional cricket stats and and the traditional ways that we go about things. I think sometimes the most left field things can be really good.”
Australia’s road to the World Cup playoffs is a difficult one. They need to finish in the top two of a group that includes England, South Africa and defending champions the West Indies, who they meet in their final group game.
Despite Australia’s recent form - they have lost five successive T20 series at home and away - Finch remains confident that his squad, to be announced soon, is capable of becoming World Champions.
“So starting the tournament against South Africa, we've always had some great battles against them so it's a difficult group, no doubt every game has its different challenges, but yeah, we feel as though that we've got a side that can win the tournament.
“No doubt our best is as good as anyone in the world I feel so there's no reason why, with the squad that we’ve picked, we can’t be really successful.”