Product Code Database
Justin Lee Langer (born 21 November 1970) is an Australian cricket coach and former . He is the former coach of the Australia men's national team, having been appointed to the role in May 2018 and leaving in February 2022 and became the coach of Lucknow based IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants in July, 2023. A left-handed batsman, Langer is best known for his partnership with Matthew Hayden as Australia's test opening batsmen during the early and mid-2000s, considered one of the most successful ever. Representing Western Australia domestically, Langer played English county cricket for Middlesex and also Somerset. He holds the record for the most runs scored at first-class level by an Australian. As Australia's coach, he led the team to victory in the 2021 T20 World Cup.
Born in Perth, Western Australia, Langer excelled at cricket from an early age, representing Western Australia at under-age level, as well as the Australia under-19 team. He also won a scholarship to the Australian Cricket Academy at the Australian Institute of Sport in 1990. Langer made his first-class debut for Western Australia during the 1991–92 Sheffield Shield, and, after good form at state level, made his Test debut for Australia the following season at the age of 22, during the West Indies' 1992–93 tour. Although maintaining his place in the side, he struggled for form, and only made sporadic appearances for Australia until his selection for Australia's 1998–99 tour of Pakistan, in which he scored his first Test century. Establishing himself at number three in the batting order, Langer maintained this role until the 2001 Ashes series. Having been injured for the first four Tests, he replaced Michael Slater as Matthew Hayden's opening partner for the final Test, and scored a century in Australia's innings win. This was the first of three centuries in consecutive matches that secured Langer's position at the top of the order.
Except for injuries, the partnership between Hayden and Langer (with Ricky Ponting moving to Langer's previous position at number three) persisted until Langer's retirement at the conclusion of the 2006–07 Ashes series. Their partnership included a total of 5,655 runs over a period of 113 innings, second only to the partnership between West Indians Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes. Langer's retirement came after several injuries had restricted his batting, including a concussion sustained during Australia's 2005–06 tour of South Africa. Despite having been one of the leading runscorers in Australia's domestic limited-overs competition, he only played eight One Day International matches for Australia, all during a period from 1994 to 1997. After his retirement, Langer played one final season with Western Australia (having served as the state's captain since the 2002–03 season), as well as continuing as captain of Somerset in English domestic cricket. He retired from all forms of the cricket at the end of the 2009 English cricket season. Langer was the Australian national cricket team's batting coach and senior assistant coach from November 2009 until November 2012, when he was appointed senior coach of the Perth Scorchers and Western Australia.
In 2016, Langer became interim coach for the Australian team while then coach Darren Lehmann took leave to scout for the Ashes and away matches late in 2016. In a fan poll conducted by the CA in 2017, he was named in the country's best Ashes XI in the last 40 years.
On 3 May 2018, Langer was announced as coach of the Australian national cricket team, following a ball tampering scandal which led to the resignation of Darren Lehmann. His four-year term began on 22 May 2018.
On 4 February 2022, Langer announced his resignation as head coach of the Australia men's team. His contract was set to expire in June 2022, and he turned down a short-term extension.
He retained his place for the following tour of New Zealand. After decent but not awe-inspiring totals in the first two Tests (63 & 24), Langer suffered the indignity of getting a pair in the third Test, falling for a duck in both innings. He was subsequently dropped, and other than a few scattered appearances did not return to the Australian Test team until October 1998, for the tour of Pakistan.
In November 1999 at Bellerive Oval in Hobart, he shared a match-winning 238-run partnership with Adam Gilchrist to rescue Australia from 126/5 chasing a victory target of 369 against Pakistan. The century scored in this innings was scored in 388 minutes, an Australian record for the slowest century.
He captained the Prime Minister's XI in December 2005 in their match against the West Indies.
In the 2005 Ashes series, Langer top-scored for an unsuccessful Australian team, with 391 in the series. His top score was 105, scored in the final test.
After this, pressure was mounting on the opening partnership of Hayden and Langer. Calls were coming to have the pair replaced by a younger duo, that would ensure the future and stability of the team to come. However, the partnership had support from the Australian selectors and was only disrupted in the 2006 Summer series when Langer was out with injury. He was replaced by Mike Hussey and Phil Jaques for two tests.
Langer then suffered a number of injuries, increasing the pressure on selectors to drop him for rising star Phil Jaques. Langer was selected over Jaques for the 2007 Ashes series, which turned out to be his last. Langer scored an 80 and a century in the first test, but it was slim pickings to follow for him.
Despite success in the Australian Test team, he did not get recalled to the one-day team, even after he was named as the domestic ING Cup's player of the season in 2002/03.
Despite his retirement from international cricket, Langer opted to continue to play first-class cricket, with Somerset announcing on the same day that Langer had agreed to return to the English county in 2007 as captain. Langer had said during his retirement announcement that he was relishing returning to Somerset: "There's an amazing challenge at Somerset. They're at the bottom of everything, and I've got a great regard for the coach over there and I'm looking forward to that challenge." Langer also stayed on with Western Australia for a final season in 2007–08.
Langer never made a century in the ODI format; his highest score was 36, which he made against India at Sharjah in 1994.
| +Test centuries ! !Score !Against ! ! ! !Venue ! ! ! ! class="unsortable" scope="col" | |||
| 1 ! scope="row" | 116 | ||
| 2 ! scope="row" | 179 not out | ||
| 3 ! scope="row" | 127 | ||
| 4 ! scope="row" | 127 | ||
| 5 ! scope="row" | 144 | ||
| 6 ! scope="row" | 223 | ||
| 7 ! scope="row" | 122 not out | ||
| 8 ! scope="row" | 102 not out | ||
| 9 ! scope="row" | 104 | ||
| 10 ! scope="row" | 123 | ||
| 11 ! scope="row" | 116 | ||
| 12 ! scope="row" | 126 | ||
| 13 ! scope="row" | 250 | ||
| 14 ! scope="row" | 146 | ||
| 15 ! scope="row" | 111 | ||
| 16 ! scope="row" | 121 | ||
| 17 ! scope="row" | 117 | ||
| 18 ! scope="row" | 166 | ||
| 19 ! scope="row" | 162 | ||
| 20 ! scope="row" | 215 | ||
| 21 ! scope="row" | 191 | ||
| 22 ! scope="row" | 105 | ||
| 23 ! scope="row" | 100 not out |
June 2006 it was announced that he would join Somerset later that month for six weeks, while fellow countryman Dan Cullen was on duty with Australia A. On 20 July 2006, he made his highest first-class score of 342 playing for Somerset in a County Championship match against Surrey at the Woodbridge Road ground in Guildford. This was also the highest score ever by a Somerset batsman, breaking the record of Sir Viv Richards who made 322 against Warwickshire at Taunton in 1985, and is the 10th highest score in a first-class match in England. During his six-week spell at the club, Langer also enjoyed particular success in the Twenty20 competition, topping the batting charts along with fellow Australian Cameron White.
On 20 April 2007 he became the first Somerset player to score two triple centuries in the County Championship when he hit 315 against Middlesex in a match noted for its batting. Responding to a Middlesex first innings of 600, Somerset set a new ground record at the County Ground, Taunton with 850–7 declared. On 19 September 2007 it was announced that Langer would stay with Somerset (as captain) for the 2008 season. In 15 first-class matches for the county in 2007, Langer scored 1215 runs at 57.85 and a further 764 in one-day competitions.
Early in the 2008 season, Langer and Marcus Trescothick put on a 272-second wicket partnership during the second innings against Hampshire at the County Ground, Taunton; falling just 18 short of the 1924 ground record.
On 23 July 2009, playing his 615th innings, he surpassed Sir Donald Bradman as the leading Australian first-class run scorer when he scored his 86th century while playing Worcestershire. At the end of the 2009 season, Langer announced that he would not be returning to Taunton in a playing capacity the following season, and retiring from all competitive cricket. He commented in an interview with BBC Somerset that he was in discussions to potentially return at some point to the county in the future in a coaching capacity. Langer played his last home game in English domestic cricket on 27 September 2009, captaining Somerset against Durham in the Nat West Pro40. A game which Somerset lost by two runs. Langer's last act as Somerset captain was to lead the side to the second stage of the 2009 Twenty20 Champions League.
| Test cricket | 250 | Australia v England | MCG, Melbourne | 2002 |
| ODI | 36 | Australia v India | Sharjah Cricket Stadium | 1994 |
| FC | 342 | Surrey v Somerset | Sports Ground, Woodbridge Road, Guildford | 2006 |
| LA | 146 | Western Australia v South Australia | WACA Ground, Perth | 2000 |
| T20 | 97 | Somerset v Northamptonshire | County Ground, Taunton | 2006 |
In July 2017, Langer was appointed to the board of the West Coast Eagles football club.
In May 2018, Langer was announced as the coach of the Australian national cricket team, and then in October 2019, Andrew McDonald was appointed as his assistant coach. In 2019, he coached Australia to the semi-finals of the 2019 Cricket World Cup, losing to England by 8 wickets. It was noted before the game that Langer had got Australia to walk barefoot around the edge of Edgbaston before the match in a bid to capture "positive energy coming out of the earth".
Langer was announced as the head coach of Lucknow Super Giants in July 2023 replacing Andy Flower.
Langer sat on the board of mining company Mineral Resources as a non-executive director from January 2023 to August 2025.
Langer's most notable opening batting partner was Matthew Hayden. The opening pair represented Australia in more than 100 Test innings. The pair made 5654 runs while batting together in partnerships, with an average of 51 runs per partnership; only Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes of the West Indies have scored more Test runs as a partnership, with 6482.
He is the nephew of Rob Langer, a left-handed batsman for Western Warriors during the 1970s and 1980s. Langer is married to his high school sweetheart, Sue, and has four daughters. When resident in Somerset, the family stayed in a rented home in Hatch Beauchamp: "Mate, I say this with the utmost affection and respect, but it's like living in the olden days."
He is a martial artist and has obtained the rank of Shodan-Ho (probationary 1st degree black belt) in Zen Do Kai.
Langer has written five books. His first was entitled From Outback to Outfield: A Revealing Diary of Life on the County Cricket Circuit. His second, an autobiography released after his return from rock bottom in 2001, entitled The Power of Passion. He also released a book with Steve Harmison entitled Ashes Frontline: The Ashes War Diaries of Steve Harmison and Justin Langer about the 2006–07 Ashes series in Australia. He also wrote Seeing the Sunrise which has been described as "a handbook for overcoming self-doubt, for revelling in success, for aiming high. It is about mastering physical and mental goals, enjoying victories and fighting adversity." His most recent book is Keeping My Head: A Life in Cricket.
Melbourne rock band Telemachus Brown wrote a song about Langer entitled (Wrong about) Justin Langer. It was released on their 2006 EP Medicine Songs and was a hit for the band on Melbourne university radio. The song could be a reference to Langer's transformation from being an average Test batsman in his early career to a world-class opener later in his career.
Langer is a devout Catholic, as was his Australian opening batsman partner Matthew Hayden. Politically, he is conservative, an admirer of former Liberal Australian Prime Minister John Howard, and considered running for office as a member of the Liberal Party of Australia.
|
|
