It was only a matter of time for Cricket Australia to announce their next head coach of the Baggie Greens. While they refrained from sacking Darren Lehmann after the ball-tampering saga exploded, finding him not guilty of playing a role in it, the former left-handed middle-order batsman took it upon himself to leave the post he had held since 2013.

In his own words, it became impossible for him to stay on as the coach after watching a devastated Steve Smith break down in tears in his press conference after returning to Australia.

And now, according to rumours, Justin Langer is set to take the hot seat vacated by Darren Lehmann. The former left-handed opening batsman, who scored 7696 runs in 105 Test matches for Australia, has found success as a coach with Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League and has already acted as a stand-in coach for Australia last year during Australia’s T20I series against Sri Lanka in February.

Langer has been the outright favourite for taking over from Lehmann, with legendary Australian captain Ricky Ponting backing his former team-mate to succeed Lehmann.

The official announcement is set to take place on Friday when he will be unveiled as the new head coach of the team.