Will have honest conversations with Steve Smith regarding captaincy, reveals Justin Langer
Getty
Australian coach Justin Langer has hinted at the possibility of Steve Smith taking back the captaincy reins with the latter's captaincy ban set to end in March next year. After the Newlands ball-tampering scandal in 2018, Smith was handed a two-year ban from leadership roles by Cricket Australia.
After the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal that rocked Australian cricket and brought shame and disgrace to the country's reputation, Cricket Australia (CA) came down harsh on the trio of Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft. While the former two were handed one-year bans from international cricket, the latter, who was still a rookie, was handed a nine-month ban. In addition to this, Smith was handed a two-year ban from captaincy, while Warner was handed a lifelong ban from any sort of leadership role for the national team.Â
Now, having redeemed himself with the bat and with his leadership ban set to end in the next five months, Smith is once again in the fray of captaincy and coach Justin Langer has stated that he will have an honest conversation with the 30-year-old regarding the same.
“I’ve built a good relationship with Steve over the last 18 months, and it (the captaincy) is going to come down to honest conversations,” the coach told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Saturday, reported Hindustan Times.
However, with Smith already carrying the Aussie batting on his shoulders, Langer is unsure if he would want to return to captaincy, given how tedious it would turn out to be.Â
“You can see how exhausted he was from the effort he put into his batting (during the Ashes), and whether he wants the burden of captaincy as well is something we’ll have to work out over time. I’ll be one of the selectors, and I think we’ll just work out what’s best," said Langer.
Having taken over the captaincy reins post the sandpaper gate, Tim Paine has done a commendable job and in fact, last month, became the first Australian since Steve Waugh in 2001 to regain the Ashes on English soil. Langer lauded Paine's captaincy but refused to comment on how long he will continue in the team.
"Tim Paine is doing a brilliant job at the moment as well. He's been outstanding in his time as captain, so however long he wants to keep playing for is another thing. The beautiful thing about Tim Paine is that he knows he can get better. He can keep getting better, he will keep learning, and with his youthful enthusiasm, even as a senior player, he's got lots of areas he can improve — that's heartening for him and that's heartening for us. But for the moment, he's definitely doing a great job," Langer said of the incumbent Test skipper.
Meanwhile, after having a horrendous Ashes series where he accumulated a total of 95 runs from 10 innings, Warner bounced back in style on his return to the cricket field, scoring a ton for his state side New South Wales. Langer is confident that the southpaw will put his failures behind and bounce back in no time and lauded him as a "champion player".Â
“He had a poor series against England, no doubt. That’s just a fact, and he knows that. But he also hasn’t lost his talent, because he was the highest run-scorer in the World Cup two weeks before the Ashes started, and he was the highest run scorer in the IPL (Indian Premier League) before that. So he can bat. The other thing about David Warner, my experience tells me that you never write off champion players. And he’s a champion player," Langer signed off.
