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Australian fast bowling great Mitchell Johnson has become the latest player to rip into the process that saw Justin Langer ousted as national men’s coach, reserving particular ire for former teammate and current Test captain Pat Cummins.
Johnson, who played alongside Cummins on the latter’s Test debut in South Africa in 2011 as well as in a number of limited-overs fixtures, didn’t hold back in a withering column in the West Australian, describing the star quick’s refusal to endorse Langer in a series of interviews throughout the summer as ‘gutless’.
“Pat Cummins has been lauded as some type of cricketing saint since his elevation to the top job this summer. Cummins might have delivered with the ball during the Ashes series, but he has failed his first big test as captain pretty miserably,” Johnson wrote.
“He had plenty of public opportunities to endorse an extension for Langer. So when he let it through to the keeper every time, it became pretty obvious he didn’t want it to happen.
“Cummins holds a lot of power and must have been central to what’s happened. He’s clearly had an agenda to get in a coach he wants.
“His recent interviews have been gutless by not respecting his coach when he could have been upfront from the start.”
One of Langer’s primary roles since his appointment has been to rebuild the team’s shattered public image and alleged ugly dressing room environment in the wake of the ‘Sandpapergate’ scandal. That same dressing room didn’t escape Johnson’s fury, with the left-armer delivering as scathing an attack as he famously did on England’s batting order in the 2013-14 Ashes.
Mitchell Johnson and Pat Cummins talk during the 2015 World Cup. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
“The baggy green is hyped as the most revered symbol in Australian sport. But what does it stand for now?” Johnson wondered.
“In the wake of the disgraceful white-anting of Langer as coach, which led to his resignation on Saturday, it stands for selfishness.”
Earlier, Johnson showed support for Langer in an interview with ABC Radio, praising the outgoing coach for having ‘got the team out of a very dark place’.
“You’ve got to look at some facts and the facts are JL has done an extremely good job,” Johnson said on Saturday.
Johnson is only the latest in a long line of former stars to slam Cricket Australia and the players for their conduct in the saga. On Saturday, Langer’s close friend and long-term opening partner Matthew Hayden was left close to tears in an emotional interview with ABC Radio.
“It was absolutely clear that no one backed him,” Hayden said.
“If you listen to the Australian captain the other day not mention once any kind of commendation or support for him, I don’t think he [Langer] would be going very well at all.
“That would be extremely hurtful.”
However, unlike Johnson, Hayden was more sympathetic of Cummins’ role in events, suggesting the captain might have been forced into a no-win situation by his teammates.
“If he had have gone on the front foot and endorsed Justin, they would have been in a position where they wouldn’t have been able to move on from him,” Hayden said.
“If it’s not just him, if there are other players that are coming to him and letting him know that maybe they feel that Justin is not the right man, I think that actually puts Pat in a difficult position as well.”
Former Australian coaches John Buchanan and Mickey Arthur have likewise come to Langer’s defence, with Arthur tweeting that the Western Australian’s removal was ‘disgraceful’… as was the ‘slap in the face’ offer of a six-month contract extension that Langer turned down.
“Either give him a proper extension or move on, by offering 6 months you effectively say you don’t want him but don’t have the balls to fire the bullet!” Arthur wrote.
Disgraceful way to treat a coach… offering 6 months is a slap in the face!
Either give him a proper extension or move on, by offering 6 months you effectively say you don't want him but don't have the balls to fire the bullet! #coachesunion https://t.co/UjB3aykvxr— Mickey Arthur (@Mickeyarthurcr1) February 5, 2022
Buchanan, a former coach of Langer, was even more scathing of the players, suggesting many, including Cummins, refusing to participate in white-ball tours of the West Indies and Bangladesh during the year were signs of their comparative apathy for Australian cricket compared to Langer’s famous fanaticism.
“To Justin, representing your country is the ultimate. Whether it’s a hyped-up Ashes Test before a packed MCG or a relatively low-key series of ODI and T20I matches played in a bio-bubble across the globe, the honour of playing for Australia remains the sam,” Buchanan wrote for Code Sports.
“That evidently was not the view of some senior players. More than half a dozen of them withdrew from those tours, including the future Test captain in Pat Cummins, in a year in which many had been happy to play in the Indian Premier League (and were ultimately chartered home via the Maldives).
“In that case, the players were publicly supported by Cricket Australia even though, as far as I’m aware, there was no significant medical or other underlying reason for their withdrawals. That wouldn’t have sat well with Justin.
“He didn’t say anything publicly about it – that’s not his style – but centrally-contracted players self-selecting out of playing for Australia is the opposite of pretty much everything he stands for.”
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Buchanan would also accuse the players of ‘selfishness’, claiming they only tolerated Langer as the front man – and scapegoat – for a struggling Australian team in the aftermath of Sandpapergate.
“They were happy for Justin to rescue them from catastrophic errors of their own making after Cape Town and take the bullets that came with that,” he wrote.
“And now that he has delivered them from arguably their lowest ever point back to the top of the Test rankings, they decide they want someone who will restore their autonomy.
“I’m not sure precisely what they want in a coach but it will no doubt be a watered-down version of Justin’s view of excellence. At least that person, whoever it is, will inherit far more solid foundations than Justin did when he started in the role.”
Buchanan went on to describe Cricket Australia’s treatment of Langer, from their refusal to endorse him throughout the summer through to their final offer of a six-month extension, as ‘a joke’.
“Not a word from the CEO, the head of high performance or the chair (although the latter role has been pretty fluid of late) while the saga dragged on,” Buchanan wrote.
“Unless I’ve missed something, the only thing I’ve seen in the last few months out of the CA top brass was a press statement about a report of a supposed JL blow up during confidential negotiations.
“It’s a joke. You don’t treat people like that.”
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