Shane Warne has called Cricket Australia’s handling of Justin Langer’s exit “pathetic” and also questioned their actions after the Cape Town sandpaper scandal while Adam Gilchrist has suggested the fallen coach has been “painted like a monster.”
Meanwhile, Langer has addressed CA staffers via video link with a message understood to be similar to his resignation statement leaked to the media.
Warne told Fox Cricket’s Follow-On podcast: “To treat the head coach the way they have, it’s an absolute disgrace what they’ve done.
“All of us who have played with Justin, we are not coming out because he’s our friend or a great cricketer or a Hall of Famer. We are coming out because it’s the treatment of the coach.
“Forget it’s Justin Langer. It’s just the treatment of Cricket Australia and the way they have handled the coach of the Australian cricket team. It’s been pathetic.”
Langer’s former teammates have been rallying behind Langer in the days leading up to and since his resignation on Saturday, blaming CA and captain Pat Cummins for failing to adequately back their mate.
The orgy of self righteousness from retired players has not been missed by current players who feel the older generation believe the baggy green meant more to them than this crop.
Warne – who angered the current players with his relentless bagging of their teammate Mitchell Starc, couldn’t resist another dig at this generation on his podcast appearance.
“It’s not a great Australian cricket team we are talking about here,” said Warne. “But all that Justin Langer put in over three or four years, we are just starting to see the rewards for his hard work. His brutalness, his intensity and his kick up the backside to the players. You know why? They needed it!
“If they can start doing this for another five or six years. Not to lose at home, beat India away and beat England away. Then we might start talking about this great Australian cricket team. But they aren’t at the moment.
(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
“If they didn’t like his style and he had lost the dressing room, well, they better start performing. They have to perform.”
The Warne comments follow some from Michael Clarke, who earlier called on Cummins to come out and speak plainly about recent comments. The hypocrisy of Clarke, who has ducked conversations about his time as captain and team relationships for years will no doubt be galling for the current team as well.
Warnne also questioned if CA had more explaining to do over the events in Cape Town that led to Langer’s appointment.
“We still don’t know the truth about what actually happened at Sandpaper gate,” said Warne.
“Does Cricket Australia know the truth? Do they? Do the same people know the truth about Sandpaper gate? Are they hiding anything?
“We’ve seen that the bowling cartel, as they call themselves, or ‘Winx’ and ‘GOAT’ and all these unbelievable nicknames they have for themselves. These guys wrote a letter saying they had no knowledge of whatever went on.
“That might be correct. But if it’s not and they’ve done that, there are all sorts of whispers or rumours that we all have heard. And one day the truth will come out.
“Does Cricket Australia know the truth? Is it the truth that we’ve heard? Why should Smith and Warner be the only two? Who knows. But the truth will come out.
“If Cricket Australia are hiding something again after Justin Langer, Tim Paine, we could go on about all the controversies that Cricket Australia has just bungled, messed up and handled completely wrong.
“They knew about Tim Paine and still allowed him to captain Australia and swept it under the carpet. When someone found out they just threw him under the bus. What is this organisation doing?”
Another of Langer’s close mates, Adam Gilchrist, also stepped up his attacks on SEN Radio on Monday, first addressing reports that the players had had enough of Langer’s style.
“I don’t care to listen to any more of the corporate speak about transition and analysis of the coaching position and all that needs analysis and requirements and evolution – that’s just covering up that the players and certain support staff around that team have spoken and they no longer want Justin there,” Gilchrist said.
“I’m not inside that camp so I can’t question whether they are well-intentioned or not, I’m sure they are well-intentioned from the way they see it.
“But this (CA) board, I just can’t believe that someone on that board didn’t stand up in the meeting, and they may well have done it, and said, ‘Hang on, how are the optics going to look on this first and foremost, what’s the public going to think after what we asked Justin to do, and really, do we think we should be placing that decision making back to the group that we found ourselves in the very same situation four years ago?
“As I said, it may well have happened, but whatever the case, the CEO was told to go out there (on Saturday) and front up to the public and carry on with the wording and the continued references to those big keywords that was corporate speak, that’s what I found really frustrating and really challenging.”
Gilchrist was one of the first to sense what was coming when reports emerged of the coach and manager Gavin Dovey publicly verbally attacking a co-worker during the series loss to Bangladesh last year
“He’s been painted by some particular people as a monster, that is not Justin Langer,” Gilchrist said.
“He’ll be the first to admit he has his frailties, he has his areas of weakness, but gee, he’ll sit and look you in the eye and work it out with you.
“So, to be painted as a monster, what sort of effect would that have on you personally and what’s the flow-on effect to your family and the people that are nearest and dearest to you, particularly through a period of time when you’re not nearly understanding what is going on, the consistent innuendo and rumour.
“I think he stated it perfectly in his resignation letter, honesty, respect, trust, truth performance.
“And then unfortunately, he felt a compelling need to say if that’s been the trouble I apologise, they’re the foundations he bases his life on.
“I totally agree with him, (but) I unfortunately disagree with him that he felt a need to apologise because that shouldn’t be a situation.”
Earlier on Monday Langer addressed CA staff, according to a report in The Age.
“A pained Justin Langer spoke by video conference to Cricket Australia’s staff to talk through his resignation and defend his reputation on Monday, as his former teammates continued to publicly attack the game’s current governors and players,” the paper wrote.
“In a regular all-staff meeting, Langer joined the CA chief executive Nick Hockley to deliver what was essentially a similar message to his resignation email. During his tenure as coach, Langer was a consistent presence on staff video calls.”
Loomy
Guest
When it comes to big organisations, sometimes if you don't force a change you'll end up doing the same thing for the next 50 years...
Rob Young
Guest
Tugga and D Martyn too mate
Pumping Dougie
Roar Guru
Warnie has constantly argued cricket sides don't need a coach. So why would he have any issue with Pat Cummins or other players agreeing with his view?? Seems a lot of Langer's former teammates have forgotten they didn't rate the need for a coach. Their comments collectively spank of emotional irrational hypocrisy. Warnie is great at commentating about on-field stuff but should leave the off-field stuff alone. :laughing: Ponting's comments were very measured and 'on point' as usual though - the CA Board and CEO lacked the decency and professionalism to be upfront and direct with Langer about their reasons, and missed the opportunity to celebrate his highly successful tenure.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Bancroft impressed me . Think he grew up very quickly in just 12 months .
Jeff
Roar Rookie
But apparently Smith is the best captain-in-(re)waiting since sliced bread, according to some. Yes, I feel for Bancroft. Glad Smith's never had the task of having my back. Not sure if I've ever heard captaincy-material Smith ever say how he feels for Bancroft. Just "i, me, I, me, have learned from my mistakes".
Ball Burster
Roar Rookie
Tony Pat Cummins was quite right to say that he he did: “That’s Cricket Australia’s job, it’s not my job,” he said. “There’s been a process, I’ve been part of that, a lot of other players have been part of that. It’s just like when we get evaluated. “I’ve got huge respect for JL, I’ve really liked working with him, but it’s not my call.” If, on the other hand, Cummins' and the "other players" feedback was a thumbs down there are major problems. It will be a problem if his public stance (fantastic job, huge respect, etc) turns out to be the opposite of his private stance. It's possible that Cummins' said something along the lines that while he thought JL was great, key players didn't and that he'd prefer to captain a united unit. If it was a player-led decision it starts to look awfully like a return to the sort of boofhead-led culture that enabled the shameful cheating at Cape Town. NB: I expect that the hysterical old guard have their own sources of information even though they are careful to say they haven't!
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
The whole sandpaper thingy just refuses to go away . Will we ever know the whole story . Unlikely. Looking on at the time I was unprepared for the tsunami of reaction coming out of Australia when the news broke . The waves of anger and indignation ( a bit too self righteous I thought) was way over the top . The person I felt most for though was Cameron Bancroft . That was reinforced watching his interview with Adam Gilchrist about a year ago when it became so obvious to me that he was the real fall guy here . His open admission that he was asked to do the dirty naming Warner and Smith was revealing . His response especially when asked if others in the team were involved interesting . And he suggested making your own inferences without him actually naming anyone . I personally find it extremely unlikely that the decision to ball tamper was kept among a secret cabal within the team . But I guess everyone must decide for themselves. Not sure however that Shane Warne is doing anyone a favor by digging up skeletons . It’s polarising and won’t achieve a darned thing .
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
Yep. As well as players association deliberations on Pakistan.
Crusher_13
Roar Rookie
Thought I would add a simple quote “the coach is something you travel in to get to the game”. No doubt someone has already posted it or made note, but not that I have seen.
Perthstayer
Roar Rookie
People need to realise the Shane Warne IS the media. The media report what is happening and what Warne says is what is happening. Why? Because he has 3.6m followers on Twitter (rising to >5m when all those who see his words reprinted/discussed in the wider media). He has such influence that the media has to report on what he has said, otherwise they are seen as behind the curve. Added to which he is greatest spin bowler of all time. He has earned the right to say what he wants until the day he passes.
MrEMe13
Roar Rookie
Tony, you've decided to enter a public debate, but the way you've done it isn't necessarily open to public discourse . You've got a very set position, and in putting your position forward committed a logical fallacy to dismiss the criticism of the people you've taken to criticizing yourself. The logical fallacy was: Appealing to hypocrisy (i.e. the former players commenting are hypocrites). Appealing to hypocrisy is known as an attempt neutralize criticism and distract from the issue being discussed. Past players past actions are only relevant if you consider people are incapable of learning from those experiences you're labelling them hypocritical for, or that they aren't capable of growth with over a decade of time to reflect. Beyond that - whether they are hypocrites or not, does not mean what they are saying is irrelevant. I personally think you'd be better served making your case for why they're wrong than going low.
TheCunningLinguistic
Roar Rookie
Not really, it’s just people like you trying to force a change. It is flawed thinking.
Rusty Brooks
Roar Rookie
Chances are there’ll be eleven of them.
Diamond Jackie
Roar Rookie
yup
Adam
Roar Guru
Problem is, who'd be the captain?
Mick Gold Coast QLD
Roar Guru
As the following poster asserts, spreadsheets are "cool". At school I was focused on learning to tackle like Kel O'Shea and to strike for the ball from the halfback like Kevin Ryan or John O'Neill. Algebra was a mystery, I couldn't be bothered with the other subjects. A decade after I could still recall slabs of Latin for some reason, which became the key to proficiency in several Latin based languages. French? I ended up enjoying reading and writing in French! :silly: Mathematics became important in my professional studies, soon after leaving school. And then ... at 30-ish an IBM XT appeared at work for us to share. The salesmen used it to play Pebble Beach and Augusta (a klunky, silly application - I have not played computer games of any type after just 10 minutes or so on that!) I discovered Lotus 123 and contracted "devoted". Even after retirement I read about and practice formulae, complex creations and such. :happy:
Adam
Roar Guru
Please do. Sabermetrics are fascinating. You should check out foolish baseball on youtube. While not the most serious he has some super interesting takes on a variety of random topics!
jutsie
Roar Rookie
warne having a go at the players for being too sensitive and not toughening up and heeding the coach’s directives is both the least self aware and least surprising comment so far. Warnie yet again providing proof that those that are legends on the field can also be complete t00ls in all other aspects of life.
JamesH
Roar Guru
Warnie had one of the most laid-back, consultative coaches of his era in John Buchanan and still couldn't stand him. The bloke is a complete hypocrite.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
Great comment - Warne would have been scathing - easy for ex-players to support their old mate Langer now they aren't playing but I doubt they would have put up with some of the stuff we've heard from him if he was their coach - ELITE HONESTY - pulease! Ian Chappell would have stormed out of the room.