Australian men’s cricket coach Justin Langer an-nounced his surprise resignation Saturday, just weeks after trouncing archrivals England in a lop-sided Ashes series and months after winning the T20 World Cup.
The 51-year-old walked away from the top management job in Australian sports after failing to secure the public support of key players and acri-monious contract talks with governing body Cricket Australia.
Board members held lengthy discussions about Langer’s future into Friday night, but failed to reach an agreement on a new deal with the former Test batsman.
The coach is said to have bristled at being asked to effectively reapply for his job and being offered a “short-term extension” to his contract, despite a stellar record that culminated in a 4-0 Ashes victory and Australia being ranked the world’s number one Test team.
Sports management company DSEG announced Langer’s departure in a terse statement saying “our client Justin Langer has this morning tendered his resignation as coach of the Australian mens cricket team”. “The resignation follows a meeting with Cricket Australia last evening. The resignation is effective immediately.” —APP
