Langer: 'I would have tampered if told to'

There are always some people who know to look at the other side of the coin instead of denouncing the convicted all the time. The new Australia coach Justin Langer also belong to that no-nonsense group, hence he left the door ajar for the disgraced ball-tampering trio.

Langer reiterated his opinion that all three players involved in the fiasco deserved a chance to work their way back into the team after having served their bans.

“If we can keep mentoring them and helping them, and they want to keep getting better and meet the standards of the Australian cricket team, then, of course, they’ll be welcome back,” he said

The 47-year-old former top order batsman is more sympathetic toward Cameron Bancroft, who used to play under Langer at Western Australia. Bancroft was playing in only his eighth Test match when he was instructed to tamper the ball by former Australia vice-captain David Warner and being the junior-most player of the side Cameron perhaps had no other option but to carry out the plan.

Justin said that he would have done the same if instructed to by the senior players. And he also mentioned that such an idea would never have been approved under the watch of then captain Allan Border or coach Bob Simpson.

“If Allan Border had asked me to tamper with the ball I would’ve,” Langer told Australia’s Channel Nine.

“I would’ve because I would be too scared not to. The difference is Allan Border would never have asked me and Bobby Simpson would’ve killed me.

“He would’ve killed anyone who brought the game into disrepute. What I can’t believe is that Cameron Bancroft walked into the Australian cricket team and he was in a position where he made that decision.”

Bancroft was handed a nine-month by Cricket Australia for his part in the ball-tampering during the third test in South Africa in March, while both the former captain and his deputy – Steve Smith and David Warner, respectively – got banned for a year.

Langer reminisced his days as an Australia player when he shared the dressing room with greats like Steve Waugh and Allan Border. According to him, the presence of such characters in the room made him a better person.

“I walked into this Australian cricket change room with Allan Border, Steve Waugh, David Boon and Ian Healy and Bobby Simpson leading it,” he recalled. “You couldn’t help but become a better person and a better cricketer – because mate, that was a serious change room.”