The inside story on how Justin Langer convinced Josh Inglis to choose Australia over England

Born and bred in the north of England, Josh Inglis has faced plenty of digs about his heritage after his five-star Test debut. So how did Justin Langer end up convincing him to abandon his homeland?

England or Australia?

That was the choice presented to a young Josh Inglis, by none other than Justin Langer.

As has been well-documented since his brilliant Test debut, Inglis moved with his family to Perth in 2010, having been born and raised in Leeds.

That of course made him eligible to play for England, but it was not a matter to which he or his parents Martin and Sarah had given much thought.

A fresh-faced Josh Inglis prepares to play for a Cricket Australia XI team in 2016, 12 months after turning his back on England. Picture: Jacob Grams

All that changed when former Test star Langer – then coach of WA – laid out the facts for Inglis when he signed a rookie state contract as a 20-year-old in 2015.

“He used to play football. Then cricket took over,” Martin Inglis told this masthead.

“When it dawned on me is when he signed his rookie contract with WA and JL (Langer) said ‘you’ve got to make a decision.’ And I’d never thought of anything like that.

“He said ‘you’ve got to make a decision, England or Australia,’ it just wasn’t in our head really.

“So it’s the first time I thought, ‘Christ.’”

Ultimately Inglis jnr chose Australian eligibility. While it was something of a slow burn, he is now capped in all three formats, is a World Cup-winning wicketkeeper, has captained Australia in white-ball cricket, and is a Test centurion.

Josh Inglis has won a World Cup with Australia – among other achievements in recent years. Picture: Getty

Aussie skipper Steve Smith lauded Inglis after Australia had completed its innings and 242-run first Test victory against Sri Lanka.

“(He) was outstanding…the way he was able to play on both plains, use his feet, put them under pressure immediately from the moment he got to the crease was outstanding. He looked like a veteran,” Smith said.

Inglis’ Yorkshire heritage – brought into sharper focus 10 months out from an Ashes series – has led to him being the butt of jokes from teammates. Usman Khawaja was in a particularly cheeky mood on the matter.

“There’s been a lot of jokes, probably from me because I’m Pakistani, I like to joke about his heritage,” Khawaja said at the end of day one.

Usman Khawaja (R) has given teammate Josh Inglis some gentle ribbing over his English heritage. Picture: AFP

“I asked him if (England and Yorkshire great) Geoffrey Boycott was going to give him his hat today. Then we just started rattling off lots of Yorkshire players.

“I made a joke again when his dad was tearing up: ‘Is that because he’s not playing for England?‘”

Inglis said the ribbing was omnipresent.

“All the time. Whenever we play England, and everyone asks me what anthem I’m going to sing. That’s a good one. It does come up a lot, but obviously you can’t choose where you’re born and it’s just one of those things, it’s part of my story and I think the gags will always hang around,” he said.

Originally published as The inside story on how Justin Langer convinced Josh Inglis to choose Australia over England