Cricket Australia’s newly-appointed chairman, Lachlan Henderson said the board would look into how it dealt with the exit of former head coach Justin Langer.
Justin Langer quit as Australia coach after not agreeing to short-term contract extension (AFP Photo)
HIGHLIGHTS
- Justin Langer quit as Australia coach after much-publicised negotiation process
- Langer had said CA and some players did not want him to continue
- New chairman Lachlan Henderson said CA will look into Langer’s exit saga
Cricket Australia (CA) new chairman Lachlan Henderson conceded on Thursday that the board’s handling of former head coach Justin Langer’s exit was messy and the board would look into the handling of the saga that dominated headlines across the country.
Langer had hoped for a long contract extension after Australia won the Twenty20 World Cup and thrashed England in the Ashes but the former test opener was offered only six months. Former players slammed the board and the players for not backing Langer despite his success and he helped rebuild the side from the lows of the ball-tampering scandal in 2018.
However, captain Pat Cummins publicly endorsed Cricket Australia’s review process, prompting Langer to hit out at the board in his resignation mail. Langer said a few players and the board was not in favour of his contract extension.
Henderson said the board might have dealt more quickly with Langer, given the weeks of media speculation that built after the Ashes over his future in the role.
“It is unfortunate that a bit of that played out in the media and we’ll reflect on whether that should have been accelerated through the summer,” Henderson said after taking over as the chairman on Thursday.
“But it was always our intention to make that decision at the end of the summer, and we followed that process.
“It got messy in terms of things playing out in the media.”
Henderson, a CA director for three years and chief executive of a major healthcare firm, replaced interim chairman Richard Freudenstein, who stepped into the role in October after predecessor Earl Eddings lost support from state member associations and resigned.
Henderson shed light into his working style, saying he will try to open with his communication with the other stakeholders of Australian cricket.
“My communication style will be open, transparent and hopefully consistent,” he said.
“Within the bounds of the confidentiality of boards, I hope there’s a really open and transparent way forward.”
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