Justin Langer speaks about change in ODI captaincy
After the respective bans on Steven Smith and David Warner, Australia not only lost two of its best players but also the captain and the vice-captain of the team. In their absence, Tim Paine was handed the captaincy of both the Test and ODI team respectively.
However, in his first series as the ODI captain of the Australian team, Tim Paine not only suffered a 5-0 defeat but also was dreadful with the bat as he could muster only 36 runs from five matches.
As a result, there have been calls of Australia replacing Paine with Alex Carey, who seems to be more suited to the limited overs’ version of the game. Meanwhile, Justin Langer also insisted that if Paine’s woes in ODI cricket keep continuing, then the Baggie Green might have to look “somewhere else.”
"We've got to work out whether he's going to play his best cricket in white-ball cricket and if he does he's a chance, and if he doesn't then we'll probably have to look somewhere else," Langer said.
"We'll have a really close look at a whole number of things when we get back from England and Zimbabwe next week and we'll move from there," he added.
He, however, praised Tim Paine for his determination and thinks that he has qualities that is reminiscent of great Aussie captains of the past.
"I was with Trevor Hohns (national selector) today. No doubt Tim has had a tough time here. He's done a brilliant job since South Africa in steadying the ship. He's an outstanding young man. He's also tough. You saw him get hit in the face in the second game, he had stitches all in his face, it's reminiscent to me of a lot of the great Australian captains."
Langer then noted that England have different captains for different format, something that suits the hectic schedule of cricketers since a lot of matches are played in the modern day.
"I'm starting to recognise really quickly how hectic the schedule is in international cricket. They are all things we're going to have a look at.
"One thing that's been interesting and goes against my thinking as well is Joe Root, for example, he plays in the one-day team but is captain of the Test team and they split that (captaincy) role with Eoin Morgan."
Finally, Langer did have words of praise for his captain but did add that they will have to look into the situation.
"He's incredibly fit. He's got high capacity as a person so he can pull it off, but it is a hard thing to do. We'll certainly have to look at it, there's no doubt," Langer summarized.
Australia’s next assignment is against Pakistan and Ireland in a tri-nation series.
