Langer thanks South Africa for quelling crowd abuse

Justin Langer has penned a heartfelt thank you letter to South African cricket for sparing Australia the ugly crowd abuse they faced in England.

Australian coach Justin Langer has been impressed by the treatment in South Africa

Justin Langer has penned a heartfelt thank-you letter to South African cricket for sparing Australia the ugly crowd abuse they faced in England.

The Australian coach admits he held serious fears that his side would walk into an ambush on their return to the scene of the Sandpapergate scandal.

But the tour has been devoid of any hostility, and Langer has personally reached out to Cricket South African chief executive Jacques Faul to express his gratitude for taking pre-emptive steps to ensure the Australians were not exposed to personal abuse in the stands.

Rather than take the view that David Warner and Steve Smith were fair game after the ill-feeling that marred the 2018 series, officials made an active call to draw a line in the sand and issued edicts to every ground around the country demanding vigilance from security.

CSA even took the extraordinary step of printing a plea to fans in national newspapers to show respect, as well as prolonged announcements over the PA system before games.

Security were so strict, two sandpaper wielding spectators were ejected at The Wanderers in Johannesburg, and another was spoken to by integrity officers on Saturday at Paarl.

That’s a far cry from the vitriol they copped in the UK last year when players were hounded throughout the Ashes series.

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South African Cricket has been fighting its own internal crisis this summer, with their administration in ruins, but Langer has thanked Faul for making his side such a priority.

“I’m actually writing a letter to the CEO of South African cricket because he said to Gavin (Australian team manager,Gavin Dovey) and I pre-tour that he’s going to make sure (measures were taken) because of what happened last time,” Langer said.

“I’m blown away by how hospitable, how welcoming, how warm they have been.

“I was really nervous about this tour. I was bracing for (a repeat of England last year). But it’s been incredible. At the grounds, at the hotels, everywhere.”

Rather than use Australia as easy targets on their return to Cape Town in particular, it seems South Africans have instead embraced the redemptive rebuild Langer has engineered. Langer was invited to address the coaching staff of Cape Town’s Super Rugby franchise, the Stormers ,last week — with the locals eager to find out how Australia had turned the ship around so significantly in the space of 18 months.

“They invited me to have dinner with them and talk to them. And I said I did the same as I did with the WA team when I first took over Western Australia. I went in really hard at the start,” said Langer.

“Because if you’re going to change things you’ve got to go in hard. So I went in hard early and then I mellowed out big time since.

“That’s all part of the journey of leadership as well.’’

Langer said his players also deserved credit for the way they have been received in South Africa.

Two years’ ago when they were last here, Australia were the most hated cricket team in the world.

Many international players and opponents felt Australia had the savage fallout from Sandpapergate coming to them after years’ of aggressive and unbecoming behaviour.

But Langer says this South African tour is testament to his players now being likeable again.

“I was just in the gym before and a lady goes, ‘I can’t believe how friendly your players are. We don’t see that very often’,” said Langer.

“The point is we’re becoming liked again. And if we’re seeing it in South Africa, and we’re certainly seeing it in Australia, that’s a great sign. I wasn’t sure how long it’d take for that to happen. So I was probably more surprised by how quickly the team has turned that around.

“The boys are playing good cricket, and are really good people to be around. If someone is friendly to you, or nice to you, people are nice back usually. I’m really pleased for that and really proud of that.”

The Daily Telegraph