The Boxing Day Test was winding down.
It was 2004, Australia versus Pakistan. Like many spectators at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, we lovingly carted in our leftover turkey and cranberry sauce rolls, happy that Christmas with its relatives who didn’t help with the washing up, spilt red wine and the next morning’s kitchen ant trails were behind us.
My daughter was only eleven, but with far better concentration than most of the drunks already slurring their speech before the day’s first ball was bowled.
As we took our seats the Pakistan coach, the late Bob Woolmer spoke quietly to her, signing a hat and smiling. (That hat we later hung out after Phillip Hughes passing). The Test was all but lost to Pakistan and Woolmer’s kindness stayed with us a long time.
Our mood however changed when six young men fresh from an early opener session at a local pub sat behind us. “Mate, if ya don’t move I’m gunna chuck up on you and your daughter” was our greeting. Soon their attention changed to Justin Langer as he approached the boundary to field. He took his place, back to us as Glenn McGrath ran in.
They swore at him, accusing him of being useless and not deserving a place in the team. Langer merely swung around and faced them, without a word. He gave them that death stare, grey eyed and intense that must have stirred fear in bowlers, teammates, opposition players, media and where needed, in the players he now coaches.
A stare like running into razor wire. Once he glared at those young men there was no need to call security.
What is it about Justin Langer that makes him the man for this moment? The driver of the current national team’s cultural change, a coach shifting the emphasis from abuse to banter. His pedigree is beyond question.
Facing a fearsome West Indies pace attack in his debut Test, he was felled by a short delivery to the helmet from Ian Bishop, rated by some as the fastest bowler playing at that time.
Langer had already been concussed in an earlier match that season while representing West Australia against Victoria. Now he had to drag himself up and face Bishop again, with the pressure of the series being even at one Test each.
Justin Langer’s shades hide his 1000-yard stare. (AAP Image/Lincoln Baker)
Plus at a time of play with the light fading. And if that wasn’t enough, there was still the dreaded Curtly Ambrose to face as well as Bishop. But Langer’s concentration was on display as he grinded his way to stumps and beyond, resulting in a half century and pushing Australia along before they fell agonisingly short of victory by two runs.
That was the same determination Langer showed on tours to India. Despite the thick heat, after a day’s play Langer would ask the team bus driver to drop him before reaching their accommodation so he could run the rest of the way.
His approach showed itself again as he hit a defiant six against an Allan Donald led South African attach at the MCG while Australia toppled to 4/26 during the first session.
Langer especially featured while partnering with Adam Gilchrist in 1999 against Pakistan in Hobart. With Australia at 5/126 and needing 369 for victory, it was understatement to say the odds of an Australian victory were long.
Langer is quoted as saying ‘You just never know,” as they began their partnership. Langer scrapped and fought, bringing Australia to within five runs of their eventual victory. I remember also a Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground on a day so hot it was more like swallowing humidity than breathing.
Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden are back in the news. (Photo by Hamish Blair/Getty Images)
Langer had been in disappointing form with some media calling for his axing. It was a day memorable for Australian Colin ‘Funky’ Miller dying his hair blue, leaving the Jimmy Adams led West Indies team in hysterics.
And a flamboyant innings from Michael Slater resulting in 99. But for me the standout was Langer, playing ugly cricket, grafting, fighting, chipping away against the ordinary patch of form that must have caused him so much disappointment. His score only reached the twenties but it was a dogged foundation laid for his return to form.
Now Langer leads our national team as far more than a coach. A guide, mentor, tactician, quite possibly a father figure for some and at times, an inspiration. Along the way no doubt he draws on his triumphs as well as those leaner times.
Langer is there to tell you how it is, but also to take you by the shoulder when needed. He’ll celebrate and tell you you’re bloody good, work you hard, motivate you and ask what you think.
And of course, there’s that stare. If you really deserve it.
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