'Never edgy, whatever happens' - Justin Langer unflustered on his coaching future with Australia

Australia head coach Justin Langer has remained unflustered over his coaching future in the team. Langer has been the head coach since 2018 when his predecessor, Darren Lehmann, resigned after the ball-tampering incident. Under his coaching, the team went on to win their maiden T20 World Cup title in the United Arab Emirates last year. Recently, his side has managed to beat England by 4-0 in the Ashes under their new captain Pat Cummins. 

Apart from this, the team managed to retain the 2019 Ashes in England. This was the first time an Australian team went on to retain the Ashes on English soil since 2001. There is a section of people who want Cricket Australia to remove Langer from the job as his leadership style has been under scrutiny. However, former players who have played alongside him want the former opening batsman to continue.   

Meanwhile, speaking on the matter, the 51-year-old has said that he is not bothered about his future. He added that he will be proud of the time period he has coached the national team.   

“No never edgy, whatever happens,” Langer said on SEN when asked if he’s nervous about the upcoming discussions with CA regarding his future. “Before the World Cup and before these Ashes, we’ve never ever been better prepared. It’s not a coincidence we’ve had the success we’ve had.”

“Whatever happens from now we can all be incredibly proud of this little period. We had two missions to win the World Cup and to win the Ashes, to do that in such a short period is a monumental effort and we’re all really satisfied with that, we’re all really happy with that, we’re all really proud of that. I sit here at the moment feeling really content with the last two series,” the 51-year-old said.

The CA was expected to have a conversation with Langer over his future which hasn’t happened. The left-hander added that he had a tough job to do in the last four years and is expecting to be spoken to in the next few days. 

It’s been four really big years and it’s an all-encompassing job: Justin Langer

“The absolute truth and people don’t seem to believe this, but the absolute truth is before the World Cup and the Ashes we all committed to, at the end of the Ashes, sit down and have some conversations,” Langer said.

“It’s been four really big years. It’s an all-encompassing job, and it’s a tough gig. That’s just the truth. We all just said we’d sit down after the Ashes. In the next little bit, I’m sure those conversations will start to be had. There’s plenty to be spoken about,” he added.

The Perth-born player further added that his team’s goal is to start winning overseas. The Pat Cummins-led side will play a three-match Test series against Pakistan in their backyard later this year and will play the Border-Gavaskar trophy in India towards the end. 

“It’s the next challenge. We’ve done some extraordinary things in the last few months. But we haven’t played much Test cricket over the last couple of years because of the Covid situation. Our next big challenge is to start winning overseas now. We’re all aware of that, we’ve got a really good team. So many guys have stepped up this summer and it’s so exciting to watch, it’s been an incredible brand of cricket. We’re excited about our next big challenge of winning Test matches overseas,” Langer concluded.