New Australian head coach Justin Langer has claimed that the national side was playing like ‘spoilt brats’ ahead of the ball-tampering scandal. Langer also believes that Steven Smith wasn’t strong enough to lead the national side.
The ball-tampering scandal hits the Australian cricket hugely in their reputation which has been resulted in a big suspension for Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft. Later, head coach Darren Lehmann stepped down from that important role and Langer has been appointed as a head coach.
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Talking about that moment, Langer told in an interview with Sky TV, “The whispers were there. Once upon a time, the opposition didn’t like us because we played really good, hard cricket — we were very skilful and we won a lot of games.
“It’s easy to dislike the opposition if they’re good, but there have been too many whispers in the last 12 months or so about the abuse on the field, or dare I say, the side playing like spoilt brats.”
The former Australian Test opener also said that he felt very disappointed when he first time heard about that ball-tampering incident.
Langer said on that, “When that moment (the ball-tampering) happened, as a past player and lover of Australia, I nearly died. And when I saw it was Cameron Bancroft, my heart nearly came out of my chest, I couldn’t believe it. So you’ve got to wonder why it gets to that point?
“But it has happened now and we have got to make sure we learn from it and get better from it because we can’t shy away either.”
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Langer further added his belief where he claimed that Steven Smith wasn’t strong enough to lead Australian cricket team.
47-year-old said, “I think Steve Smith maybe just wasn’t strong enough in his leadership. But he loves the game of cricket — he practises harder than anyone I’ve ever met — and he is a very, very nice young lad. There’s no doubt about that.”
In that interview, present Australian Test and ODI captain Tim Paine was asked how they found difficulties during their toughest period in the South African tour.
Paine replied, “I don’t think it goes back to any one individual, but not living by our behaviours over a sustained period of time — not one year, two years, but probably even longer than that. It meant that something like Cape Town was probably going to happen, due to brushing over little things. But the little things can turn into big things when you take your eye off the ball.”
