Dumped Australian coach Justin Langer has unloaded on Pat Cummins for not being up front with him and the “cowards” who leaked to the media about trouble in the dressing room.
More than nine months after his abrupt exit from the role when he was only offered a short-term extension, Langer has ripped into the Test and one-day skipper for not giving him the feedback he craved.
In an in-depth interview with the Back Chat podcast, he claimed former Test skipper Tim Paine and white-ball captain Aaron Finch had been frank with him when he asked for their feedback but he was frustrated by Cummins’ lack of transparency.
“I spoke to Pat Cummins. He said to me about five times, ‘This might be brutally honest.’ I said, ‘Pat, there is nothing brutal about your feedback. What is brutal is I’m hearing it behind my back through the media or through sources’. No one’s telling me. Tell me,” he said.
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“People say that I’m very intense, but they’re mistaking intensity with honesty.”
Langer said there was a range of people acting against him.
(Photo by Steve Bell/Getty Images)
“Everyone was being nice to my face but I was reading about this stuff and half of it, I swear to God and on my kids’ lives, I could not believe that is what was making the papers,” Langer said.
“A lot of journalists use the word ‘source’. I would say, change that word to ‘coward’.
“A coward says, not a source.
“Because what do you mean a source says? They’ve either got an axe to grind with someone and they won’t come and say it to your face, or they’re just leaking stuff for their own agenda. I hate that.”
The ghost of Langer’s coaching career will loom over the Test summer with the former mentor joining the Seven Network’s commentary team this summer, making for the likelihood of the story being a running theme through the season.
Just a week out from Australia’s first Test against West Indies, Langer also questioned how he did not receive a proper extension beyond the six months offered at the end of last summer, after winning the Twenty20 World Cup and Ashes.
Langer said he grew tired of the leaks around his future, adamant it was different to what he was being told by players.
It first became evident that Langer was under pressure to hold onto his job more than 12 months out from his eventual exit, when rumblings began to surface around his intense nature.
“Everyone was being nice to my face but I was reading about this stuff,” Langer said. “A lot of journalists use the word ‘source’. I would say, change that word to ‘coward’.
“Because what do you mean a source says?
(Photo by Getty Images)
“They’ve either got an axe to grind with someone and they won’t come and say it to your face, or they’re just leaking stuff for their own agenda.”
Langer remains adamant that he acted on feedback from players before last year’s T20 World Cup win, and he should have been rewarded with a proper extension.
In contrast, others claim Langer took a significant back seat through the World Cup in the UAE, and that assistants and players were the driving force.
But Langer said his situation was akin to a player wanting to improve in one format, starring in it, and then being axed because the coaches liked someone else better regardless.
“The hardest thing for me of all of it was: I got the feedback (and) I did something about it,” Langer said.
“We won the T20 World Cup, we won the Ashes. We were No.1 in the world … And I’ve still got sacked.
“You can’t give someone feedback, do something about it, and then that to happen.”
Redcap
Roar Guru
Yes, fair point Q. :laughing:
Clear as mud
Guest
Wrong captain wrong opener wrong fast bowlers Warner failed and a rubbish start The rest is just you being Clouseau
Shire
Roar Rookie
Is it possible that Langer's interactions with the public and his behaviour behind closed doors, or simply in the context of coaching, could be different? Does being a "genuine guy" mean anything?
Peter
Roar Rookie
Langer’s hard work, exhausting, energy sapping. Reckon I’ll be watching the cricket this summer with the sound down even more than usual. I’ve moved on from this whole palaver. He needs to use some of his meditation to let it go.
humesy
Roar Rookie
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qwetzen
Roar Rookie
... it wasn’t just Pat that thought you were a complete lunatic Who said that he was a "complete lunatic"? And no one said that it was "just Pat". Aside from those trivialities, good post.
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
He doesn’t strike me as having the wit or self-awareness to be an engaging commentator in the longer-term. Eh? Could you please name all of the (mainstream) post-WSC Oz cricket comms who have possessed either of those qualities?
zatoo77
Guest
langer issue aside. i think that cummins and finich need to come forword and say why the t20 team underperformed. they batted poorly and bowled poorly apart from zampa and agar. i suspect it has to do a little with the australian publics feedback of the langer saga. if i am right we are in for a long summer of bad cricket.
Choppy Zezers
Roar Rookie
Oh I don't understand that legal mumbo jumbo. It's a bit beyond my understanding of contract law...or the English language really
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
You've got that down pat
humesy
Roar Rookie
Spot on Nudge. “Loves getting honest feedback”, and stares daggers and says a sarcastic “Righto” to the person giving it to him. The same coach who flogged the team in an unscheduled fitness session the morning he found out he was being paid less than the players for being a part of “The Test” series. Same coach who blew up at his player for burning a review. So much evidence of his unsuitability for the role in that doco and he is still moaning and playing the victim.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Don't even know what that means. Probably easier to sit remotely and snipe against someone's character?
Jero
Roar Rookie
Applying that rationale, if someone says something negative about you, or me, does the onus fall upon us to respond, failing which, whatever was said about us is somehow proven?
Shire
Roar Rookie
Is this the fabled "great bloke" test?
Jacko
Roar Rookie
But you WILL take Cummin word? Why the difference?
Jacko
Roar Rookie
JGK the problem is thats just his opinion. Does he get rid of everyone HE DECIDES isnt right for the team? At the end of the day its not his decision to make who is or isnt right for the team.
Clear as mud
Guest
Passion is no substitute for good selection good captaining and good form Finch needs to find a sword and fall on it for that one. Potentially take Gorgeous George with him
Big Daddy
Roar Rookie
We've heard from quite a few people on what a great guy and wonderful coach Langer has been and a lot of it is probably true but you have to ask the question if all the above is true what has changed from being so popular and liked to now a person nobody wants and why has it happened . We've only heard his version and it's fairly obvious there has been an incident or multiple incidents to make the players feel that way. Maybe none have said nothing to him face to face and said to Pat you're the captain it's up to you . Normally sporting teams are fairly close to their coaching staff otherwise they're not appointed . Whatever happened it's enough for the players to act in the way they have . It looked as though the players have moved on but Langer hasn't.
Clear as mud
Guest
Paine. Khawaja. Finch. Cummins. The leaders of our men. Clique. Cabal. Cartel. Crap.
badmanners
Roar Rookie
Chris Gayle did and won.