Cricket Australia (CA) said Langer was offered a short-term extension to his contract "which sadly he has opted not to accept"; Andrew McDonald, an assistant coach under Langer, has been appointed interim head coach
Saturday 5 February 2022 19:16, UK
Justin Langer has resigned as head coach of Australia, just weeks after leading his side to Ashes victory over England.
The 51-year-old has held his position since being appointed in 2018, following the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa, with Langer guiding Australia to a maiden Twenty20 World Cup victory last November before being in charge for their 4-0 Ashes success on home soil.
Langer held discussions with Cricket Australia on Friday over his future, ahead of his contract expiring in June, with the former opening batsman turning down a short-term extension to stay in the role.
In a statement, Cricket Australia said: "Cricket Australia has accepted men's team head coach Justin Langer's resignation, which was received today. Justin was offered a short-term extension to his current contract, which sadly he has opted not to accept.
"CA would like to thank Justin for his outstanding leadership since he became Australian men's team coach in 2018 and for guiding the team to the T20 World Cup title last year and the 4-0 Ashes victory.
"Justin is not only a legend of the game but an outstanding individual. The contract extension offered to Justin was the result of a thorough review process that evaluated many factors including future requirements of the team and the upcoming extensive schedule of fixtures.
"The extension was approved by the CA Board and was put to Justin last night. It included the opportunity to defend the T20 World Cup title in Australia at the end of this year. Justin informed CA this morning he was not accepting the offer and would resign with immediate effect."
Andrew McDonald - an assistant coach under Langer - has been appointed interim head coach, with official duties beginning with Australia's upcoming T20I series against Sri Lanka this month. Australia then travel for their first tour of Pakistan in 24 years next month, live on Sky Sports.
Langer's departure comes just days after Cricket Australia denied media reports that he had been involved in a "heated meeting" over his future, while there have been previous reports regarding player discontent over his coaching style.
England counterpart Chris Silverwood was sacked from his role after a disastrous 2021, with interim managing director of England men's cricket Sir Andrew Strauss refusing to rule Langer out as a successor.
Strauss said: "Let's take a step back. What are we looking for? Split coaches or one coach and what are the requirements in each of those formats so to speak?
"I know him well and on the surface he's done a very good job with that Australian cricket team, so I wouldn't rule him out, but I'm sure there are plenty of others as well."
Who better to come in and fix England's problems than Langer, the man who set his team up to so brutally expose them this winter?
"We see this whole thing going on in Australia where it doesn't look like the players have a great deal of time for Justin Langer," Sky Sports Cricket pundit Rob Key said.
"He's a bit of hard taskmaster, but they've come back from sandpaper-gate, they've won the T20 World Cup and they've won the Ashes easily."
The idea has emerged that England's players have been allowed to have things their own way a little too often under Giles and Silverwood, so Langer would certainly provide a counter to that.
But while he has enjoyed success in his time with Australia, it has not all been plane sailing with two home series defeats to India and limited-overs defeats to West Indies and Bangladesh. Plus, there is the question of whether the proud Western Australian would even consider working for the old enemy?
