Symbolic urn returns but trophy is a hollow vessel, says Justin Langer

Justin Langer says there is a hollow feeling after England drew the Ashes and recognises there are holes in the batting order.

Australia’s Steve Smith celebrates with at The Oval. Picture: Getty Images

They held onto the Ashes, did ­better in England than any Australian side before them for some time, but Justin Langer says it feels hollow after a loss in the last Test meant the series was drawn and the coach admits there are big holes in the batting order.

Getting personal, he notes that Stuart Broad took up residence in David Warner’s head.

Reflecting on the two teams’ ­efforts to make the latter stages of the World Cup and to perform better in England than any side in the past 18 years, the coach is warmer.

The outfit he took over after the South Africa tour last year had a bumpy path to the English summer but returns from the five-month trip stronger than when they left.

Warner had a nightmare with eight single-figure scores in his 10 innings and his total of runs for the series (95), was fewer than Steve Smith’s total boundaries (97).

Broad dismissed him on seven occasions. That’s historically bad for a series, the sort of territory ­Michael Atherton was in with Glenn McGrath in 1997 and David Gower with Geoff Lawson in 1989.

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Warner is about to turn 33, but Langer rejects any notion the left-hander is past his best.

“He had an IPL where he was the leading runscorer, he had the World Cup where he was the leading runscorer,” Langer said. “Talking frankly, he let Stuart Broad get into his head and he thought way too much about it. I’ve seen it ­before, even with the great players, every now and then they have a ­series — and I’m talking about the all-time great players — they have a series where …

“I remember Gilly with Andrew Flintoff. I remember seeing Steve Waugh sit on the team bus in South Africa and the guy had been a run machine for so long, he got out just before stumps and I — in a sick sort of way — thought it was the best thing I’d ever seen because I didn’t think great players had lean runs.

“I used to have lean runs all the time but even great players have lean runs and I’m sure David — we know he’s a very good player, there’s no question about that — but he had it tough, particularly against Stuart Broad.

“I used to have it against Murali and I couldn’t solve the issue and it’s so hard when you try to problem solve and then you’re in the middle of a big series trying to solve the puzzle.

“In this instance I don’t think David solved the puzzle, and he’ll be first to admit that, he’ll probably be very relieved he gets on the Qantas flight in a day’s time and doesn’t have to face Stuart Broad for a while I reckon. But … there’s plenty of upside still to his batting.”

Langer says he is keeping faith with the opener who has 21 Test centuries to his name, the most ­recent against England at the MCG in the 2017 Boxing Day Test.

“I’ve learned over a long period you never write off champion players, it doesn’t matter what sport, you never write off champion players,” he said.

“They tend to come good don’t they? So he’s had a tough series, no doubt about that, but he’s also a champion player so usually with champion players they get a bit more time to come good. He had this series, it didn’t go to plan, but he’s seen how successful he’s been and the impact he can have on Australian cricket teams winning so I’m confident he’ll come good. Actually I’m hopeful he comes good.”

There are four Sheffield Shield rounds before the first Test is played against Pakistan in Australia 10 weeks from now, but there is also T20 series against Pakistan and New Zealand during in the same period.

Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Matthew Wade were the only successful batsmen in the series, and the first-class games will be an important trial for the three ­remaining places in the batting line-up.

“I thought our bowling throughout this series was absolutely world class,” Langer said. “I think we talked throughout about the maturity and healthy group of fast bowlers that we were able to have on the park. The bowlers were brilliant. Nathan Lyon as well — the way they all stepped up at different times.

“But we didn’t bat well enough. I said this at the start of the series that the team that bats well will win the series. I said it consistently enough and we didn’t bat well enough. That’s the truth.

“Steve Smith was obviously outstanding. What a pleasure to watch. He’s a brilliant young man but what a pleasure to watch him bat. I thought the development of Marnus was exciting. He worked so hard. He’s a bit in the Steve Smith mould of the players that you love to see do well. He worked so hard. The way Matthew Wade scored two centuries in this series, obviously including today. We talked about him knocking so hard to get an opportunity. He did that and then to back up with two Test centuries in an Ashes series showed great fight and great skill. I loved Matthew Wade’s footwork. But we certainly fell short in other areas and we need to work on that.”

Langer believes the side was hurt by its inability to back up after a win.

“That probably comes with the maturity of the group as well,” he said. “It’s OK to fight back when you are underdogs and it’s one of those Australian things we love the underdog tag. To fight back from a tough loss is admirable and I said how proud I was with everyone for that. But also over the past couple of years we haven’t necessarily performed at our best after a win. Really good teams do that. I think that’ll be part of the maturity of our side.

“If you probably think about it, the way we were in this series, we aren’t a great team yet. We are a good team, we are a maturing team. We have got some great players in it. But we’re aspiring to be a great cricket team. You got to work hard and get consistent results to achieve that.”