Australia coach Justin Langer ‘embarrassed’ after having stand named in his honour

AUSTRALIAN coach Justin Langer never played cricket for the accolades, and a touching gesture in his hometown of Perth has left the champion opener stunned and embarrassed.

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JUSTIN Langer admits he’s “embarrassed” to have a stand named in his honour at the new Perth Stadium, but hopes it can represent a small token of inspiration for Australia’s rebuild.

The Australian coach grew up watching his heroes Dennis Lillee and Kim Hughes light up the WACA and then have their names immortalised in the stands.

Now Langer has earned his own piece of history at the new ground across the river and reflected on how emotional his late mother Joy-Anne would have been to witness yesterday’s unveiling in front of the entire Australian squad.

Cricket coach Justin Langer watches the unveiling of the new Justin Langer Stand at Optus Stadium. Picture: AAP

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A stunned Langer says he never played the game for such honours but wants his players to stand for something as they look to rebuild.

“I’m a little bit embarrassed by this. When you start out as a little kid you don’t set out to have a grandstand named after you. It’s an unbelievable feeling,” he said.

“I know my mum who isn’t here with us anymore she’d be balling her eyes out. It might start raining a little while because my might be crying down when she sees this.

Langer scored 7696 Test runs, and hit 23 centuries.

“I’m deeply honoured by it. I’ll say to the Australian boys, this is something from the past and hopefully we can grow something even better for the future among us because I love Australian cricket, like I love Western Australian cricket.

“If we can keep making Australians proud of our team this will make me feel a little bit less embarrassed.”

Two of Australia’s best cricket journalists, Robert Craddock and Peter Lalor join the Cricket Unfiltered podcast to discuss the recent culture review findings and the upcoming ODI series against South Africa. Listen now!

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Originally published as Australia coach Justin Langer ‘embarrassed’ after having stand named in his honour