‘Almost embarrassing’: Ponting takes aim at CA after Langer departure

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting says the departure of coach Justin Langer is a “sad day” and has questioned why player power appears to have influenced Cricket Australia.

Ponting, a long-time teammate of Langer and still a great friend and supporter, took aim at CA on Saturday as Langer stepped down from his dream job, primarily because of player agitation, after a tumultuous and unedifying few days in which the CA board failed to reach a decision on Friday.

Langer’s mood swings began to grate on players last year, prompting a crisis meeting between disgruntled players and CA, and this summer he was forced to take a back seat approach, with players and assistant coaches having a greater say through a victorious Twenty20 World Cup and the retention of the Ashes in emphatic style.

Former Australian teammates Ricky Ponting and Justin Langer during the Sydney Test against New Zealand in 2020.Credit:Getty Images

Langer’s departure less than four years into his appointment, and on the eve of a tour of Pakistan, follows the messy departure of then Test skipper Tim Paine ahead of the Ashes because of a sexting scandal. The manner in which both have been handled by CA was branded by Ponting as “almost embarrassing”.

“[It] sounds like he mustn’t have had the full backing of the board. He was very keen to continue on in the role, as he should’ve been, having just won a T20 World Cup and the 4-0 result in the Ashes,” Ponting said on ABC Radio on Saturday.

“It seems like a very strange time for a coach to be departing. Reading the tea leaves, it seems, as he would say, a very small group of the playing group and, he believes, a couple of staff around the team, haven’t loved the way he’s gone about it.

“And that’s been enough to force [out] a man that’s put his life, heart and soul into Australian cricket and done what I believe is a sensational job in turning around the culture and the way the Australian cricket team has been looked at over the last three or four years. It’s been enough to push him out of his dream job. It’s a really sad day as far as Australian cricket’s concerned.”

Test captain Pat Cummins and white-ball skipper Aaron Finch failed to endorse Langer, 51, publicly recently. Both men were involved in the crisis meeting with former CA chairman Earl Eddings last year, which resolved to keep Langer in charge – for the time being.

Ponting said he was disappointed Cummins had repeatedly refused to publicly back his coach, but conceded Cummins was in a tough position, given he had to remain loyal to teammates who wanted Langer, the former tough-as-teak opening batsman recently inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame, out.

“Pat’s been put in a pretty difficult situation as captain,” Ponting said. “If it’s not just him, if there are other players that are coming to him to let him know that they feel Justin’s not the right man, then I think that puts Pat in a difficult position.”

During his illustrious career, Ponting said neither he, nor his teammates had influenced the CA board on appointments, although he was consulted about coaches.

However, the Langer situation meant the board either appeased the players, or potentially had a fractured dressing room ahead of what shapes as a searching Test and white-ball tour of Pakistan, where Australia has not ventured since 1998.

“Never in my time as a player did [we], as a playing group, influence what a board was thinking as far as appointments,” Ponting said.

“I might have got asked an opinion here or there on a certain coach, but it seems like the players and, maybe, a couple of other personnel around the Australian cricket team might have influenced Cricket Australia into making the decision that they have.”

Australian Cricketers Association Todd Greenberg said in recent days that senior players deserved to have a say on Langer.

Ponting said current assistant Andrew McDonald, who sources say is a player-first coach, meaning he seeks feedback from players on what they want, and former England and NSW coach Trevor Bayliss were among the likely candidates to replace Langer.

Langer’s demise comes just days after Chris Silverwood stood down as England coach after a humiliating tour of Australia, with England now expected to consider Langer as a replacement.

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