Will welcome Steven Smith, Cameron Bancroft and David Warner with open arms, says Justin Langer
Justin Langer has stated that the Australian team will accept Steve Smith, David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft with open arms when the three players will complete their term of suspension. He has also added that they will be resourceful on Australia's 2019 World Cup campaign.
The players were suspended by Cricket Australia - for a term of 12 months for Smith and Warner and 9 months for Bancroft - for the ball tampering incident that took place in the second test match against South Africa. Due to this, Darren Lehmann, embarrassed by the incident, decided to resign from the position of head coach as well. Following Lehmann’s resignation as the Australian team’s head coach, Justin Langer was announced as the new coach of the team, who believes that the players will be highly resourceful in Australia's future campaigns including the 2019 World Cup.
“If our environment's right and they're playing well, there's no reason they shouldn't be welcomed back in to help us win the World Cup and help us win the Ashes next summer. If we can have an environment of great young leaders and welcome those guys back, we can be a real force and perhaps a team that's smiling a lot more than the team was before it happened,” he quoted.
Smith and Warner have always been the stalwarts of the Australian cricket team during every series after the previous World Cup. Both have played 214 one-day internationals and scored more than 7,000 runs among them, which Langer believes will be great assets for the team.
"Steve Smith is one of the nicest people you will ever meet in your life. He's also a complete cricket tragic. He's a ripping young bloke. And what a player. As committed to batting and