Zealous Langer
is driven by his
need to succeed
Australia’s greatest
run-scorer is on course
to be their finest coach,
writes Scyld Berry
E
ngland, if they are to
regain the Ashes from
1-0 down, have to
overcome one of the
game’s great obsessives
in Steve Smith – and
another, in Australia’s head coach,
Justin Langer.
Only last June Langer sat, with
notepad and grim face, as England
won all six white-ball
internationals against the Australia
side he had inherited just a month
before – a side who, after
“Sandpapergate”, lacked Smith,
David Warner and a moral
compass. Yet Langer has been so
successful that it is England who
are now being hit for six; and
Langer is on course to become
Australia’s finest coach, when
allowing for the hospital pass with
which he began.
If Smith is obsessed with his
own batting, Langer has always
immersed himself in anything to
do with cricket and self-
improvement. Ahead of the second
Test starting next Wednesday, who
in either camp knows most about
batting at Lord’s? Not one of
England’s coaches, nor even Joe
Denly, who, having had three
seasons at Middlesex, averages 27
in first-class games at Lord’s. But
Langer, who was 16 when he
scored his first century there,
albeit on the Nursery ground, then
sat in the main stands and
imagined what it would be like to
represent Australia: he averaged 59
at Lord’s, with a highest score of
241 not out.
Watching the left-handed
Langer bat rather crabbily, yet
busily nudging the ball to third
man, nobody claimed him to be the
greatest Australian batsman. Yet he
scored more first-class runs than
any Australian – surpassing Don
Bradman with 28,382 – and 86
first-class hundreds, 23 in Tests. So
obsessive about cricket was he that
he carried on playing for Somerset
for three years after retiring from
Tests in 2007 aged 36, adding the
experience of captaincy to his
palette.
While Smith fidgets at the crease
and changes batting gloves, Langer
left no fads unturned in his desire
to improve. Some of these he has
written about in his five books,
based on the diaries he kept since a
teenager, while others have been
revealed by his two closest
partners: his wife Sue, and his
former opening partner for
Australia, Matthew Hayden.
Langer has the names of his four
daughters tattooed on his left arm,
and a boxing kangaroo on hisbackside. In his shower at home in
Perth he had a laminated sheet
inscribed with the words “physical,
technical, mental and spiritual” so
he could measure his daily
performance by each of these
criteria. When he opened with
Hayden, the one taking first ball
would mark centre, then the other
would mark a cross on it; both are
Christians.
The pair became friends after
Hayden, when giving a talk to the
Australian academy of interns
including Langer, was asked what
it was like for a batsman to be out
of form, and he replied that
holding the bat then was like
holding another man’s “old fella”.
From 2001 they became Australia’s
most prolific Test opening pair,
second only to Desmond Haynes
and Gordon Greenidge worldwide.
“The pain of discipline is not as
bad as the pain of disappointment”:
one of Langer’s many motivational
aphorisms, this was not for
Hayden. “I was always in trouble if
I overthought things,” Hayden
wrote. “If I’d talked to him about
my game, it would have sent me
bonkers.” But incessant theorising
worked for Langer, who was
“always looking for new entries to
the gospel of batting”.Langer was also renowned for
his bravery – and his often violent
reaction to getting out. His father,
when playing club cricket in Perth,
had his jaw broken but simply had
it bandaged up and completed his
century.
Langer admitted to constant
insecurity about losing his Test
place, until he was given charge of
Australia’s team victory song. It
was in this sense, as cheerleader,
that Langer led Australia during
their world-record sequence of 16
Test wins.
But his disgust at getting out
never abated. At the end of his
career, when Somerset captain, he
had to ask his wife to buy a new bin
because he had just demolished
one in the Taunton dressing room.
It was painted “JL” and reserved
for the venting of his frustration.
Langer was perfectly qualified to
be Australia’s batting coach from
2009 to 2012. He then coached
Perth Scorchers to the Big Bash
title in three seasons out of four.
So England are confronted by a
batsman currently as prolific as
Bradman and coached by a
batsman who surpassed the
first-class aggregate of Bradman.
It could be a long six weeks.played in Test, says Gillespie
final-winning super over at Lord’s,
Archer’s performance at Black-
stone Academy Ground in West
Sussex suggested he was ready for
England selection.
Opening the bowling, Archer
showed no signs of lacking fitness,
as he produced rockets to the un-
fortunate Gloucestershire bats-
men. After taking a couple of
overs to find his rhythm,
Archer had opener Tom
Price caught behind, be-
fore forcing new batsman
Gareth Roderick to take
cover with a well-aimed
bouncer at his throat.
Archer continued with a
mixture of vicious short-
pitched balls and probing fullrounder, reaching his century off
84 balls, in an innings that included
12 fours and four sixes. Soon after,
Archer was hit on the helmet by
one-time Scotland bowler Adrian
Neill, before Neill then dismissed
him lbw.
It was not the watchful, patient
innings that England crave, but it
showed he belongs at the highest
level – something his friend and
county team-mate Chris Jordan
emphasised earlier in the day as he
watched.
“He’s got the temperament for
any level really,” said Jordan. “You
see that every time a challenge is
put in front of him, he’s seems to
rise to it. He’s very competitive and
he sets himself high standards more
than anything and he’ll be looking
to live up to those obviously going
into the second Test. He’ll be a big,
big asset for England.”Danger man: Jofra Archer in
full flow at the Blackstone
Academy ground yesterdayWinning attitude:
Justin Langer has
turned the tide for
Australia in just 15
monthsdeliveries as he showed no mercy
to a Gloucestershire side made
up of 10 players aged 20 or
younger – seven among them
teenagers – with scant first-
class experience.
In the final over of his
eight-over opening spell,
Archer hit youngster Milo
Ayres on the grille, report-
edly leaving the youngster
feeling dizzy.
His second spell opened
with a delivery that deviated
off the seam and took out the
off stump of Matt Brewer. He
cleaned up the tail soon after,
finishing with six for 27 off 12.1
overs as Gloucestershire
were 79 all out.
Archer then
showed why
he sees him-
self as an all-The Daily Telegraph Wednesday 7 August 2019 *** 13
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