Justin Langer

Justin Lee Langer (born 21 November 1970) is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer.

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.

Langer made his Test debut against the West Indies at the Adelaide Oval, in January 1993.

He received a rough welcome against an in-form West Indian bowling attack, including being hit on the back of the head by his very first ball in Test cricket, delivered by Ian Bishop, who went on to become a close friend in later life.

Along with the rest of the Australian team, he took numerous blows from their pace bowlers.

After only managing to score 20 in the first innings, Langer top-scored for Australia with 54 in the second, a famous chase by Australia that fell just 2 runs short.

In the fifth and final Test of the series, Langer only managed to score 11 runs between his two innings in a match that was dominated by the bowling of Curtly Ambrose and Ian Bishop.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Langer was a number three batsman until 2001 when he was dropped after failing to convert a series of starts during Australia's 2–1 loss in India.

During the second Test in Kolkata, he bowled a single over when V. V. S. Laxman and Rahul Dravid defied the Australian attack for the entirety of the fourth day, forcing captain Steve Waugh to try almost all his players as bowlers; it was the only time Langer ever bowled at Test level.

Shortly after though, he replaced Michael Slater as an opening batsman for the final 2001 Ashes series Test at The Oval where he celebrated his return with a century.

He did not get dropped again and as an opening batsman he averaged 52.38 and scored 14 centuries in 44 matches; previously he scored 7 centuries in 41 matches at an average of 39.04.

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.

Langer's retirement came after several injuries had restricted his batting, including a concussion sustained during Australia's 2005–06 tour of South Africa.

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.

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.

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.

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.