I wasn't sure whether to cry my eyes out or smash my hotel room, reveals Justin Langer

Australia were a part of what many are considering to be one of the greatest Test matches in the sport’s centuries-old history, but unfortunately, they failed to end up on the right part of the result. Having the game in the grasp for the majority of the five days, they let it slip at the last moment courtesy of Ben Stokes’ brilliant century that also meant the series is now level at 1-1. The Kangaroos’ head coach Justin Langer has revealed the defeat wasn’t easy to swallow. 

"I've learned a lot of lessons throughout my whole career and the last week of coaching has probably been one of the most challenging weeks of my coaching career after what happened at Leeds. That said, as challenging as it has been it's been awesome, I've loved this last week of coaching,” he was quoted saying by Cricbuzz.

Langer has been playing the role for more than a year now and has been a part of some heart-wrenching moments for the cricketing nation, including a World Cup semi-final exit. However, the Test loss has hit him particularly hard, knowing the investment of time and effort that had gone in in the preparation for the match.

"Everyone in that change room, probably a lot of Australians as well, felt completely sick after that. I actually felt physically sick after it, and then I went back to my room, I wasn't sure whether to cry my eyes out or smash my hotel room. At that stage, when so much goes into something and for most people it's just a game of cricket, but when so much goes into it, it means a lot,” Langer added.

With the series now equally poised at 1-1 with a couple of matches to go, it is there for the taking for either team and promises some thrilling cricket. The quality and competitiveness on display so far, have already drawn comparisons from the 2005 Ashes, which is widely recognized as one one of the best Test series in history. However, back then, hosts England had managed to edge the Australians 2-1 and Langer is eager to net history repeat itself, especially considering they haven’t won the series on foreign soil in 18 years.

"They (the 2005 and 2019 Ashes) are similar and that is the beauty of history. Oftentimes it seems things are repeating themselves, but the beauty of the future is you have a chance to have a different outcome. If I look back on 2005, I can't believe how many say that's the greatest series we've ever been involved with and I say 'yeah but we lost it' we had all that success together. 'But it was so good for cricket, it was so good for Test cricket da da da'. The only problem with 2005 was that we lost the series so this has been a great series so far like a lot of Ashes, we will just be doing our best to reverse the result," Langer concluded.