Australia's Test squad another complication for Langer
Australia’s Test squad announcement had arrived ahead of the selectors’ preferred schedule, and the coach did not deny this
Daniel Brettig22-Nov-2018It was the Britpop songsmith Jarvis Cocker who penned a tune in 2009 called “Further Complications”, in which he pondered how many of his former certainties had been replaced by questions, doubts and imperfect choices. “I used to think that people all chose the lives they led, but so many different choices that you’ve got to make instead; Don’t write a novel, a shopping list is better, it’s a complicated boogie and I don’t know any better, baby…”That year happened to be the start of Justin Langer’s coaching journey, having concluded his final stint as a county batsman for Middlesex. He was an assistant for Australia until late 2012, then a broadly successful coach of Western Australia and the Perth Scorchers until earlier this year. But nothing truly prepared him for the magnitude of coaching the national team in the wake of the Newlands scandal, a fact he has wrestled with ever more visibly since the day he was first unveiled on a four-year deal in May.Thursday’s Test squad announcement was yet another, being the biggest Cricket Australia makes each year and thus part of a far bigger eco-system of events, marketing and media than the selectors simply naming a squad and informing which players are in and out of the group to face India in Adelaide from December 6. An extended 14-man squad, featuring an extra batsman and two extra pace bowlers, suggested the announcement had arrived ahead of the selectors’ preferred schedule – which would have included a sight of the final Sheffield Shield game before the start of Test preparations – and Langer did not deny this.”I’m learning this business is a lot more complex than it could be maybe,” Langer said. “There’s lots of reasons. For example, if we’d named it the day after the next Shield game, we’ve got to go the next morning to Adelaide so the players have to have some idea. We also know that if we let some players know they’re going, so their managers will know and the whole world will know about it, because you’ve all got good contacts however you’ve got them, which we’ve all got, which is all great.”So it’s not as simple. I would say let’s just name it after the next Shield game, give the other guys who did miss out or the guys who are in a good chance, that’d be perfect, but it’s a more complex world than it probably needs to be but actually is, because a lot goes in to putting the Australian cricket team on the park and being ready for a Test match.””A lot” included sufficient time to prepare an elaborate video including all the nominated players in graphic form, set against the backdrop of a backyard cricket match, in line with CA’s ‘it’s your game’ slogan for the summer. This effort has been devised to try to reconnect the players to the public after the fateful events of South Africa.
“The reality is right at this moment, when you lose the three Test batters we’ve lost through suspension, then there’s going to be spots up for grabs. I think it’s important to keep giving people opportunities to put their name up to play Test cricket for Australia.”
It’s hardly the first time that the Australian selectors have, when confronted by doubts about who to choose, attempted to choose more than would be the standard number of players. Infamously in 2010 the panel named a 17-man squad for a pre-planned announcement of that year’s first Ashes Test, live on Channel Nine, which was rather undermined by heavy rain that saw it watched by a soggy handful at Circular Quay. If this announcement was a little less uncertain, Langer said the gulf left by the banned David Warner, Steven Smith and Cameron Bancroft could not be ignored.”The reality is right at this moment, and we’re all very aware of this, when you lose the three Test batters we’ve lost through suspension, then there’s going to be spots up for grabs,” he said. “I think it’s important to keep giving people opportunities to put their name up to play Test cricket for Australia, so every opportunity whether white-ball or red-ball cricket is an opportunity to put your name up to be selected.”Plenty of other complications have confronted Langer over the past six months, from a schedule that has bounded somewhat breathtakingly between formats, and the juggling of a support staff that remained contracted in the wake of Darren Lehmann’s departure, to the many and varied criticisms of past players, not least the ever outspoken and unavoidably visible Shane Warne. Little wonder Langer has looked at times like a student who has mistakenly walked into a different exam to the one they revised for.”The scheduling has been the biggest challenge for me coming into this role, just looking at the scheduling,” he said. “We played some one-dayers in England then we went to the UAE played two Tests matches, three T20s, came back a week later played three one-dayers against South Africa, a T20, now a T20 series and then a Test series Thursday week.”I’ve said for many years the great players adapt, whatever the colour of the ball and the great teams have to adapt as well. Gaining that continuity of team is one of the challenges I reckon, but that’s the reality of the business we’re in. It is no doubt one of the big challenges as well.”Underpinning all this of course is the question of the Australian team’s very identity, so publicly dissected by the Longstaff and McCosker review of CA’s culture. South Africa’s captain Faf du Plessis, described as “speaking with a forked tongue” by the former Board director and now commentator Mark Taylor recently, had described the team he faced in the recent victories as “tame”, a term that Langer railed at.”I’m not sure where the tame came from, we played really well in the second game, we batted poorly in the first game, and in the third game we played brilliantly for the first 35 overs with the ball and they got away from us,” he said. “Shaun Marsh’s hundred was excellent, Marcus Stoinis, if you saw his reaction in Adelaide I wouldn’t say that was tame, that was really passionate, it means a lot to the boys. they’re hurting at the moment, their confidence is down. I’m not sure what people want from us.”On the one hand we were too aggressive, the Australian team too aggressive and probably stepped over the line, now we’re getting called tame. You saw the way the guys are going about their business again last night. I’ve said from the start, there’s no room for abuse in the game of cricket, there’s no room for it, but we’ve got to play good, hard cricket. That’s what fans want to see, that’s what Australia want to see I think.”But amid all the questions, the second-guesses and the further complications, Langer has been able to glimpse moments of improvement, points of progress and reasons for some hope. Whether it was Shaun Marsh’s centuries in the England series, Usman Khawaja’s epic contributions in Dubai, or Marcus Stoinis’ recent emergence as a 21st century late overs “iceman” in the vein of a young Steve Waugh, the green (and gold) shoots can be found while digging in the dirt. A scrappy win over India in the opening T20I at the Gabba gave Langer some reason to smile.”I just loved how brave the boys were last night,” he said. “The way they fielded, the way they batted they were brave, they had a red hot dip last night. That’s what Australians are good at, aren’t we. We get to a point of ‘we’ve had enough of this, when are we going to turn it round’ and hopefully that was some really good signs last night.”There were some challenging overs with the ball, but let’s not underestimate we’re bowling to some great players. It’s going to be an arm wrestle all summer I think, India are a very good team, but there’s some really good signs. Winning’s more fun than losing.”Overcoming the many complications of his new world will be a key to how successful Langer turns out to be. And for all the imperfections inherent in naming a Test squad so far out from the toss of the coin, the fundamental soundness of the Australian team’s composition was a decidedly promising sign.