Cricket News: Justin Langer, Pat Cummins, and a war of words that refuses to die down

“I spoke to Pat Cummins. He said to me about five times, ‘This might be brutally honest’. I said, ‘Pat, there is nothing brutal about your feedback. What is brutal is I’m hearing it behind my back through the media or through sources. No one’s telling me. Tell me’,” Langer told Code Sports.

“Everyone was being friendly to my face, but I was reading about this stuff, and half of it ... I could not believe that was what was making the papers.

“A lot of journalists use the word ‘source’. I would change that word to ‘coward’. A coward says, not a source. Because what do you mean by what a source says? 

“They’ve either got an axe to grind with someone and they won’t come and say it to your face, or they’re just leaking stuff for their own agenda.”

Langer’s interview has attracted plenty of criticism – not least from Cricket Australia chief Nick Hockley, who said there were several ‘inaccuracies’ in the former coach’s statements. 

But why is this coming back to the fore now, especially since it’s been a while now since Langer has been out of the job? 

For one, it is clear that Langer has not yet gotten over the fact that he was forced to resign as head coach despite winning the Ashes and the T20 World Cup. 

For the other, by his admission, he took on the feedback and worked on it only to be essentially dropped from the job. 

“The hardest thing for me of all of it was: I got the feedback (and) I did something about it. We won the T20 World Cup; we won the Ashes. 

“We were No.1 in the world. I’ve never enjoyed coaching more and I’ve still got sacked. That’s the hardest thing.”

Yet it is clear that, despite the success the side was having, there remained a gap between the players and head coach – and it was that gap which cost Langer the job. 

The sad reality of life as head coaches is that they are far more expendable than players. So even if there are legitimate gripes to be made against players, they will always be backed when a relationship with the head coach breaks down. 

But this feud got ugly due to a perceived ‘generational war’ between Australia’s former players – many of whom backed Langer – and the current core players. 

Unfortunately or otherwise, Cummins and Aaron Finch got dragged into the mess as Langer pointed out repeatedly that their communication with the coaching staff was often lacking. 

Currently, neither Cummins nor Finch have spoken out on this latest outburst. But it would serve them no purpose if they did, mainly because it would extend an unfortunate situation. 

Langer is well within his rights to be annoyed at the whole situation. But the longer it drags on, the less it benefits anyone – including Langer himself.