Aus coach reveals how job pressure caused emotional turmoil at home

Justin Langer

Cricket Australia's national team head coach Justin Langer revealed how his wife was left in tears when Team India was on their way to their maiden Test victories over Australia during the initial months of Langer's job.

Speaking to 'ESPNCricinfo' ahead of the Ashes series starting August 1, Justin Langer said taking charge of the team, which was reeling in the aftermath of the infamous ball-tampering scandal last year, which involved Australia's captain and vice-captain took its toll on him especially during the drawn fourth Test against India of the series.

"I've known my wife since I was 14 years old, so she knows everything about me, and they were leaving. They were leaving that day, and we were at breakfast at 8 o'clock and my wife started crying at the breakfast table in front of my daughters," Langer recalled.

"I said what's going on, I had never see my wife cry - we know everything about each other. She said 'I just don't like what's happening here, I don't like what it's doing to you, I don't like what it's doing to us, people are so mean, what people are saying about you and the team and Australian cricket'. That was a real eye opener for me, that it was affecting my family," he said.

India won both the Test and ODI series by a 2-1 margin.

Another instance of the pressure getting to him was when Justin Langer was involved in a tense exchange of words with a journalist on the issue of Glenn Maxwell's Test future.

"I got, I'd say two out of 10 grumpy with the journalist in Sydney, and I was also amazed at the backlash of that as well," Langer said.

"I apologised straight after the event, that's me, but I realised then and the way people said 'he's getting angry, he's losing it'. I didn't feel that but my wife was getting upset, that was a real moment.

"I've said privately and publicly a few times if I look back to my career, 1993 when I got dropped for the first time, really tough time, but pivotal in my life. "I got dropped in 2001, a really, really tough time, but pivotal in my life. I look to January 2019 in Sydney, really tough time, but I've got no doubt it'll be a massive part of my evolution as a coach," he added.

Justin Langer took over the job of head coach of the Australian cricket team after Darren Lehmann stepped down post the ball-tampering scandal.

Australia was caught ball-tampering red-handed during a Test series in South Africa in March 2018. Australian batsman Cameron Bancroft was caught by the cameras tampering the ball with a foreign object that he had snuck in his trousers.

The then Australian captain Steve Smith along-with vice-captain David Warner were held responsible with Cameron Bancroft for the scandal and were given 1-year-long suspensions from the game.

With inputs from PTI

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