Langer: Smith's Australian team played like spoilt brats
Justin Langer succeeded Darren Lehmann as the Australia national team head coach in the wake of the ball-tampering saga. And more than two months after taking charge of the team, Langer has criticized the Aussie team under the stewardship of Steve Smith, saying they behaved like spoilt brats.
“Once upon a time, the opposition didn’t like us because we played really good, hard cricket — we were very skilful and we won a lot of games. It’s easy to dislike thepu opposition if they’re good.
“There were too many whispers in the last 12 months or so about the abuse on the field, or dare I say, the side playing like spoilt brats,” Langer reportedly said in an interview.
Langer also described how he had felt like as a former Australia cricketer when the ball-tampering incident appeared on the big screen. He now wants the team to take a lesson from the mistakes that damaged its reputation.
“When that moment [the ball-tampering] happened, as a past player and lover of Australia, I nearly died. And when I saw it was Cameron Bancroft, my heart nearly came out of my chest, I couldn’t believe it.
“So you’ve got to wonder why it gets to that point. But it has happened now and we’ve got to make sure we learn from it and get better from it because we can’t shy away either,” he added.
According to the former Australia batsman, Steve Smith was not a strong leader. However, he appreciated the efforts Smith puts into the game.
“I think Steve Smith maybe just wasn’t strong enough in his leadership. But, he loves the game of cricket — he practices harder than anyone I’ve ever met — and he is a very, very nice young lad. There’s no doubt about that,” said Langer.
The mastermind behind the tampering incident—David Warner also interests Langer as a coach in knowing what drove him so angry that he had to channel it in such a disgraceful manner.
He said, “David, he has got that bit of bite in him. And if you look back at the team of my era, some of our guys had that too. Matty Hayden played really hard cricket, Andrew Symonds at times played really hard, Steve Waugh. He didn’t have to say much, he’d just have to look at you and you’d be nervous.
“The question I’d ask with David is how he got so angry? They are the things that interest me as a coach, how do you get to a point where you almost explode?”
