Justin Langer resigns as Australia coach

Justin Langer has ended his four-year tenure as Australia’s coach, refusing a short-term contract extension. 

The ex-Middlesex and Somerset batter has claimed a stunning winter double in T20 and Test cricket, but his rugged and no-nonsense approach to the role appears to have rubbed some people, including players, up the wrong way. 

Media report after media report Down Under suggested he had lost the dressing room. 

But you can’t argue with the results, and many of his former team-mates have backed him.

Langer took over from Darren Lehmann following the Sandpaper gate crisis in 2018 and had a contract through to this June. 

He was offered a short-term extension to that deal, but wanted longer and has resigned with immediate effect. 

Earlier this week, England’s interim director of cricket Sir Andrew Strauss, the man charged with leading the search for Chris Silverwood’s successor, opened the door for the 51-year-old Perth native to swap sides in cricket’s greatest rivalry. 

“I know him well, and on the surface he’s done a very good job with that Australian cricket team,” said Strauss. “So I wouldn’t rule him out.”

If you fancy England to win the next T20 World Cup in Australia later this year, potentially under Langer, they are 4/1 with bet365. The same company has them as a 5/4 shot to win the 2023 Ashes on home soil.