I feel relaxed about the tour: Justin Langer

Former Australian opener Justin Langer, who is currently serving in a supportive and interim capacity for the Australian cricket team has stated that he is indeed relaxed about the tour. In spite of the fact that he is relaxed, Langer has conceded that this is not a drill considering Langer’s future prospects in terms of coaching.

The southpaw who was almost a mainstay opener for the most part of his career in Test matches is currently lending a helping hand to his former colleague Darren Lehmann. The latter has been at the helm of Australian cricket for a long time and has also guided the Aussies to the World Cup in 2015. Although anger’s personality is a country mile apart from that of Darren Lehmann, the former has been heavily tipped to take over from Lehmann. Lehmann, on the other hand, has been the beneficiary of a hectic schedule as a coach with 18 months of international cricketing commitments completed.

Speaking to the Perth media, Langer justified that he respected the interim position he was serving and also added that the learning from the tour could be applied to his position for Western Australia.

“I respect the interim position, so I will come and guide the ship,” Langer said. “I feel relaxed about the tour. I’m still a novice coach and it is a great experience for me. Hopefully, I can bring some lessons back to WA cricket at the end of it.”

Known to be an exact opposite of Lehmann’s jovial personality, Langer added: “We (Langer and Lehmann) are very different people,” he said. “That’s why we got on well with teammates, and ever since. I know most of the players really well and I have worked with most of the guys. I will be myself. I have learned some good lessons coaching the Warriors/Scorchers.”

“I had 15-20 years in this job (as a player and Australia’s batting coach) travelling on the road for 11 months of the year,” he said. “I was so lucky to get the job (with WA) so I could be home with my family. It is a really tough job (being a national coach).

“Timing is an amazing thing in life, right now I would find it hard (to be a national coach),” he added. “Down the track if the job became available then I would have to think about it because it would be the natural progression professionally.”

Andrew Griffith, the bowling coach for Western Australia will also be joining Justin Langer for the upcoming tour. However, Langer admitted that it would be more of an audition for Griffith as opposed to the role he was serving.

“For Griffith, it is more of an audition for him than me because there is a position vacant,” he said. “He has been great for WA cricket. It’s a great opportunity for him. He is a good bowling coach and a good guy.”

“He is coming back from no cricket and no practice games, so he has some challenges ahead,” he said. “But it’s not just about this tour for him, it’s about a very busy year ahead. Hopefully, he can play three or four of the (maximum) seven games.”

Australia plays their first match of the tri-series is against South Africa in Guyana on June 5.