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Mark Waugh called out Pat Cummins for hypocrisy and Shane Warne delivered another bitter dig at the current Test team as the two ex-teammates of Justin Langer refused to take his exit laying down.
Warne continued his attacks on Cricket Australia in the wake of Langer’s decision, a week ago, to reject the offer of a six-month extension to his contract.
While plenty of the old guard who played with Langer have deemed it time to move on, there was no such concession from Warne and Waugh, talking on Fox Cricket ahead of Friday’s T20 game against Sri Lanka.
“I thought the treatment of Justin wasn’t right at all,” Warne said.
“And take Justin Langer out of it. Even just the position of the men’s coach, I thought was really poor from Cricket Australia.
(Photo by Getty Images)
“The way it was handled, I thought was a disgrace.
“I don’t know if it was the right decision. I’m not sure how it got to that.
“It sounded like, what we’re hearing — and all we can do is go on what the players are saying — is the players didn’t want him anymore. He lost the dressing room — which I don’t know is right. I think you just want the best candidate for the job.”
Warne also criticised the current team – something he has made a habit of much to the displeasure of the Cummins cohort.
“They basically got rid of the Australian coach,” Warne said. “So they want to start performing, because this is not a great Australian cricket team, the men’s Test team.
“They’re doing okay … we’re just starting to see the rewards for that by winning a World Cup, winning an Ashes series. So suddenly they’re starting to see the rewards, and now he’s gone.”
Waugh said the situation didn’t “sit well with me.”
Waugh suggested that it likely wasn’t the entire squad that wanted to see the back of Langer, which has the potential to cause a dressing room rift.
“I just wonder whether there could be some cracks (that) appear. Half of the squad probably loved Justin Langer as a coach, and the other half maybe didn’t,” Waugh said, adding that players in his era would never have questioned the coach.
Waugh accepts Langer’s view that the push to have him replaced was far from anonymous, although sources tell The Roar that the team is united behind Cummins.
“He’s handled it pretty well, but I thought the press conference sort of muddied the waters,” Waugh said. “It was sort of hypocritical a lot of the things he said.
“He’s got a bit to live up to now … his captaincy is going to come under scrutiny. It’s got to now that he’s really come out and said that this is the style of coach we want.”
“There is a bit of pressure (on Cummins),” Warne added. “I think there’s a lot of pressure on this team now. Because they’ve got rid of the coach… this team needs to start performing.”
Meanwhile News Corp reports that negative sentiment towards Cummins has quadrupled on social media since Langer’s resignation.
While many, including former England captain Michael Vaughan, felt Cummins’ produced a “masterclass” in his media conference midweek, Cummins received further criticism on social media.
American-based data analysis company Semrush reported that a week after Australia’s Ashes triumph, Cummins had among the lowest percentage of negative criticism of any athlete at just 6.6 per cent.
From January 25 to February 10, negative sentiment rose to 26.10 per cent, with many cricket fans blaming Cummins for Langer’s resignation.
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