The debacle in The Ashes has seen heads rolling in English cricket with the Managing Director of men’s cricket Ashley Giles exiting along with the coach Chris Silverwood and assistant coach Graham Thorpe. There could be some more resignations before the month is done. 

Langer’s shock resignation

As this is being written, news has come in that Justin Langer has resigned as the coach of the Australian team. His contract was to expire in June anyway, but after a meeting with the Australian Cricket chiefs he has stepped down. Last year after the unexpected defeat to India there were stories leaked to the media that he was too stern and emotional and that players were walking on egg shells while he was around. Very conveniently the blame for the loss was being left at his door instead of looking at where the players had underperformed. After these reports came out Langer said he took note of that and would try to tone down his style. Whether he did that or not is immaterial, but the fact is that Australia won the ICC T20 World Cup for the first time and then went on to beat England to win The Ashes. After such results one would expect that the coach would get an extension, but that’s not what has happened and we have Langer’s resignation. Player power is no bad thing where they are looking to get themselves the best in terms of facilities, infrastructure and guidance to be the best they can be, but when it trickles down to deciding who should be the coach then it is entering the murky world of politics.