NEWSNOW | COLOMBO – More than a decade after he walked away from Test cricket and a year before he was expected to step into the role of national coach, Justin Langer will formally replace Darren Lehmann at the helm of a bruised Australia men’s team.
Langer, 47, had been earmarked as Lehmann’s successor when the former coach foreshadowed his tenure would end at the cessation of next year’s dual World Cup/Ashes assignment in the UK.
“It is humbling to be appointed as coach of the Australian men’s cricket team,” Langer said.
Other names that were mentioned as a possible replacement for Lehmann, who rose to the role in 2013 when Mickey Arthur was sacked, were Langer’s ex-teammate (now coach of Sussex in the UK county competition) Jason Gillespie and incumbent assistant coach David Saker.
Langer had previously been linked to the vacant England coaching position before another Australian, ex-New South Wales batter Trevor Bayliss, was appointed in 2015.
