MELBOURNE: Australia Test captain Pat Cummins praised Justin Langer for doing a “fantastic” job as head coach but said it was only fair for Cricket Australia to conduct an evaluation process before making a decision on renewing his contract.

Langer, whose contract is set to expire mid-year, is hoping for an extension despite no players endorsing him publicly to continue in the role.

“It lies in Cricket Australia’s hands. JL (Langer) has been doing a fantastic job. He has been there for four years,” Cummins told reporters on Thursday.

“His contract is obviously up soon. So they’re just going through an evaluation process at the moment, which I think is fair and the right thing to do. We all get evaluated all the time as cricketers, it’s part of a high performance environment.”

Australian media reported this week that Langer reacted angrily during a recent meeting with Cricket Australia over his contract and had been asked to reapply for the role. CA refuted the reports.

Senior players and Cricket Australia managers met last year amid reports Langer’s intense coaching style had rubbed players the wrong way.

Australia’s coaching set-up was subsequently tweaked, with Langer taking less of a hands-on role and assistants Andrew McDonald and Michael Di Venuto taking a greater share of the coaching burden.

Under the new arrangement, Australia won their first T20 World Cup in November and thrashed England 4-0 in the Ashes over the home summer.

Former Australia captain Mark Taylor, who served on Cricket Australia’s board, said the governing body should have resolved Langer’s contract situation by now.

“There’s too many ‘ifs’ now and not enough this is whats going to happen,” Taylor told radio station Triple M.

“First and foremost look after the incumbent and a legend of the game in Justin Langer and then announce the other coach — if that’s whats going to happen.”

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2022