Players in Justin Langer revolt granted power over coaching future

Australian cricketers who led a highly-publicised mutiny against national coach Justin Langer will be consulted on his future.

Pat Cummins and Joe Root

The Australian players and support staff who were part of a mutiny against coach Justin Langer will have input when Cricket Australia decides whether to renew his contract.

CA’s head of high performance Ben Oliver revealed there would be consultation with players and staff about a possible new deal for Langer when his contract expires in June.

Catch every moment of The Ashes live and ad-break free during play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free now.

“We always seek feedback from players and staff,” Oliver told reporters on Friday morning.

“We’re about trying to get better. And that goes for our coaching staff. It goes through our players and everyone who’s around the team.

“So we’ll do that as a matter of course, after the (Ashes) series is completed, and the players’ feedback on a range of factors, including how we best support them, will be considered in that process.”

It is unknown who between Oliver, CA chief executive Nick Hockley and the Board will make the ultimate call on Langer’s future.

However, Oliver revealed the player input four months ago had a positive effect on the squad, who have since won the T20 World Cup and are on track for a 5-0 Ashes whitewash.

“Those conversations were really constructive at the time and great credit to the players, the player leaders were able to provide some feedback that was really constructive,” he said.

“Justin embraced those conversations and ultimately, we’ve created, and he’s helped create, along with the other support staff and the player leaders an environment where the team has been able to perform incredibly well.

“And enjoy a World Cup campaign and enjoy an Ashes series and hopefully that’s also brought some joy to all of the Australians around the country.”

The player intervention was led by former Test captain Tim Paine, one-day Aaron Finch and current Test skipper Pat Cummins.

The players are understood to have been worn down by Langer’s intense and volatile approach and they were disappointed when prior to the meeting, CA released a statement backing Langer.

After CA failed to act on the concerns raised by the players, Paine, Finch and Cummins each went to Langer individually.

The result of those meeting saw Langer defer to his assistants Andrew McDonald, Michael Di Venuto and Jeff Vaughan more, while reigning in his own input.

Pat Cummins and Australia head coach Justin Langer.

Cummins failed to publicly back Langer when asked after the Boxing Day Test about his coach’s future.

“I think we’ll savour this victory today and continue the Ashes,” he said on Tuesday.

“I don’t think today is the day to speculate on that. We’ll all sit down together after this series or whenever his tenure is up.

“His contract is up for renewal in a few months, and we’ll deal with that then.”

Oliver echoed Cummins’ sentiments in revealing discussions on Langer’s future would wait until after the Ashes series is complete with a busy schedule coming up for the team.

“We haven’t set a specific timeline on that (Langer’s contract negotiations), we’ll work through the conversations and manage that as we need to,” he said.

“The international cricket schedule is ongoing.”

Australia have a ODI series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka in February and a tour of Pakistan in March that clashes with a T20 tour of New Zealand.

Oliver revealed it would be unlikely CA would split the roles between short format and Test coach.

“Our approach has been to create a team of staff that sit around the players and support them, with that group bringing a set of complementary skills and experiences that support the players across all three formats,” he said.

“The international cricket schedule is demanding. There’s no doubt about that. But certainly, our approach has been a sort of collective team approach in terms of the support that we provide the players.”

Originally published as Players in Justin Langer revolt granted power over coaching future