Justin Langer appointed coach of Australia's cricket team

Cricket Australia has announced the appointment of Justin Langer as head coach of the men’s national team.

The 47-year-old former cricketer will replace Darren Lehmann, who resigned after the ball-tampering scandal in March that saw Australia captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner banned for 12 months and batsman Cameron Bancroft barred for nine months. Langer inherits a team that sits third on the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings, fifth in one-day internationals and second in Twenty20. The new coach will begin his tenure on 22 May in a four-year term.

New coach to restore faith in the Australian cricket team

At his first press conference since his appointment was announced, Langer vowed to restore the faith in the Australian cricket team and win back the confidence of the public, but also added that Smith, Bancroft and Warner could all rejoin the Baggy Greens in the future.

"One of the key values for me is learning from the past," he said. "When I think about Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith, they love the game of cricket more than anyone I know and they are great kids. That's why it was a surprise they made the mistake they did. We've all made mistakes. David Warner is the same. He's a really great young bloke. This will be a really important message: if they are willing to meet the standards of the Australian cricket team, I think everyone has a place".

Decorated career

As a player, Langer had an outstanding career, representing the Baggy Greens in 105 Test matches and eight ODIs. He scored over 7,500 Test runs in a career that spanned almost 20 years. As a tactician, he has been head coach of Western Australia and the Perth Scorchers since 2012.

Langer has also been involved in the Australian men’s team as an assistant coach for three years since November 2009. He worked as Australia’s interim head coach in an ODI Tri-series in the Caribbean in 2016, and in a T20I series on home ground against Sri Lanka in 2017.