Ricky Ponting supports Justin Langer amid criticism

Ricky Ponting has thrown support behind former teammate and incumbent Australia Head Coach Justin Langer, who has found himself surrounded with criticism owing to a combination of his leadership style and the team’s recent performances under him.

Australia, who recently went down 1-4 against West Indies and Bangladesh in two away T20I series, have now lost all five of their previous bilateral T20 assignments. With the T20 World Cup looming, questions have been raised over the team in plenty, including some on Langer’s role as the coach.

Ponting, who was last associated with the Australian team in any capacity in 2019, stated that with results not going Australia’s way, the buzz around Langer was expectable. “As I made really clear to Justin, when you’re in that position in Australian sport, whether you’re a high-profile coach or a captain of a national team, if you’re not getting the results, then you’ve got to expect the negativity,” Ponting told 2GB Radio while promoting his wine label for Father’s Day.

“If you wind the clock back not even 12 months ago, the Australian team were the number one ranked Test team and T20 team in the world, we know all the talent is there.

“The last tour to Bangladesh and the West Indies was pretty tough to judge the coaches on because I think there was eight or nine out of the starting XI for T20 and one-day cricket weren’t there.”

Reportedly, even the Australian players have been dissatisfied with Langer’s coaching style and approach earlier.

I really felt for Justin: Ricky Ponting

“It sounds like the captain and some of the senior players have had some pretty direct conversation with Justin about the things they think he needs to get better at,” Ponting said. “But he is also the sort of bloke who seeks that sort of advice anyway. He wants to find out how he can get better and what he can do better.”

“I know there’s been a lot of negativity the last few weeks, I really felt for Justin, I rang Justin a few times,” Ponting said.

“They just got back from that tough tour of the West Indies and then Bangladesh, and he was locked up in his hotel room in Adelaide, and he was sort of copping it left, right and centre. Me and a lot of his close friends have reached out to him.”

Ponting has not been alone in lending a hand of support, as former Australian captain Mark Waugh termed the manner in which the “spotlight has been deflected from players’ performance to him” as “unfair”.

Langer, meanwhile, remains optimistic and confident about becoming a “better coach”.

“The situation at the moment is very tough but I am confident that I will become a better coach from it. We all got a lot off our chests. I think we are all in a better place now. When you win, everyone is happy and gets on with things but when you are losing, that is when the finger-pointing starts, and people look for excuses,” he recently said to a Western Australian newspaper.