Justin Langer: Cricket Australia deny ‘fiery’ meeting with coach

Cricket Australia has released a statement following claims they had a “heated” meeting with coach Justin Langer over his continued role with the side.

In a report which CA claimed had “a number of inaccuracies”, Fox Sports claimed that the Australia coach met with CEO Nick Hockley and high-performance manager Ben Oliver last week in a “fiery” meeting.

Although CA confirmed a meeting did take place, a statement to the press denied many of the claims about the nature of the gathering and that Langer was not asked to reapply for his job,

“There were a number of inaccuracies in a story written by Tom Morris on the Fox Sports website on Monday concerning a meeting between Australian men’s team Head Coach Justin Langer, Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley and EGM of High Performance and National Teams Ben Oliver on Friday,” a statement to the press read.

“While we do not comment on confidential conversations, we felt on this occasion it was important to correct the record.

“Among other false claims, we reject outright the assertion that the meeting was fiery or heated and that Justin was asked to reapply for his job.

“Justin has always been contracted as Head Coach through to the middle of this year and we have consistently maintained that discussions around the future of the role would commence following the conclusion of the men’s Ashes series.

Plotting the road ahead

“Friday’s meeting was the first time that we had the opportunity to meet together in person, reflect on the team’s success and discuss the road ahead.

“We will continue with this process and make an announcement once it is complete.”

Langer took over the role as Australia coach from Darren Lehman after the previous tour to South Africa in the wake of the ‘sandpapergate’ scandal, which also saw then-captain Steve Smith and David Warner issued 12-month bans.

However, last year claims emerged that a number of senior players in the side did not take to Langer’s coaching style and there was discord in the squad.

Langer then took a step back following meetings with former captain Tim Paine, current Test captain Pat Cummins, and white-ball skipper Aaron Finch.

Hereafter, Australis claimed a maiden T20 World Cup victory toward the end of 2021 and retained the Ashes convincingly on home soil.

Langer is on leave and will not be present when the Australia T20 side face Sri Lanka in a five-game series starting on February 11.

He will return to his duties for the three-Test series in Pakistan, which starts on March 3.