Justin Langer says he will “never, never apologize” for the serious attitude he took to his job as coach of the Australian cricket team.
Justin Langer says he will “never, never apologize” for the serious attitude he took to the Australian cricket team that was thought to have taken players offside during his time as coach.
Langer led Australia to T20 World Cup and Ashes victories over the summer, but resigned in February after months of speculation that he had lost support from the group of players.
In his resignation letter, Langer apologized to Cricket Australia bosses if he “seemed too intense” as a coach.
But in an interview with Western Australian Gov. Kim Beazley this week, Langer said he would “never, ever apologize” for the serious approach to cricket he learned from former captains Steve Waugh, Allan Border and Ricky Ponting. as of coach Bob Simpson.
“It’s really ironic, well not ironic, but I guess that’s the way the world is,” Langer said.
“At the end of the Australian national team, it was said that it was too serious or too intense for the younger players. But that’s what I learned. “
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Langer recalled the public scrutiny he faced when he reprimanded Marnus Labuschagne for taking a sandwich to the field during the fourth test of Australia’s 2020/21 series against India.
The former coach said that keeping his players at a high level, he only hoped to emulate the captains and coaches who preceded him.
“Imagine Allan Border or Steve Waugh leaving us (making a sandwich on the field). It wouldn’t happen,” he said.
“It was a game of cricket, but we went to battle and represented our country. We came out to win and make the Australians proud of what we were doing.
“I will never, ever apologize for that. That’s how we grew up and now I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t been raised like that.
“It was a fantastic base with great leadership and mentors.”
Now that the dust has settled on his departure from the Australian team, Langer has focused on writing his memoirs.
He admitted that his resignation had left him with “some scars”, but said the writing process had been “a form of therapy”.
“Right now it’s a form of therapy, writing, because at the time I was angry,” he said.
“I was very upset by the media. My skin is very thick, but even more so as it was affecting my family.”
Langer said he had contemplated moving away from cricket as he looked to the future.
“Now I wonder if it’s time for a new chapter and to do something else because I love the game of cricket, but I’ve been doing it (a long time ago),” he said.
“I’m very excited about the future. I have some scars from the last 12 months, but I’ll work on them. That’s life. In my darkest hours, I’ve learned my best lessons.”