Langer humbled by stadium honour

The southern grandstand at Perth Stadium will forever be known as the Justin Langer Stand after today's unveiling on the eve of tomorrow's opening ODI against South Africa. 

The Australian men's team coach was honoured in front of his players and WACA dignitaries, and in typical humble fashion he was sheepish about the grand gesture. 

Langer paid special tribute to his late mother Joy-Anne, who passed away last year after a battle with cancer, and said his mum would be watching from above. 

"I'm a little bit embarrassed by this," said Langer, who is the first Western Australian icon to have a stand named after them.  

"When you start out as a little kid you don't set out to have a grandstand named after you. It's an unbelievable feeling. 

"Most importantly my family and my friends are so proud of this and at the end of the day when I started playing the game it was to make my mum and dad proud. 

"I know my mum, who isn't here with us anymore, she'd be balling her eyes out. It might start raining in a little while because my mum might be crying down when she sees this." 

In has been a turbulent 18 months for Australian cricket, which has seen a pay dispute between the governing body and players' union, the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa, a review into the culture of Cricket Australia and mixed results on the field.

But Langer says the outrage and ill feeling is not exclusive to cricket, and hopes his side can start changing the narrative by entertaining Australia's loyal and parochial supporters.

"It's sad, isn't it? Everyone seems to be at each other, there's lots of criticism. But we've got such a proud history of Australian cricket," he said.

"We've had a few hiccups along the way, in not just in the last six or 12 months, but over our history. But we should be so proud of Australian cricket.

"I guess that's just the way of the world. It's not just in cricket, it's in sport in general. It's probably in most newspapers or in most things you read in the news. 

"That's OK. There's nothing we can do about it. 

"What we can do is we can prepare well, we can play good cricket, and be entertaining and put on a good show so Australians can start smiling a bit. 

"One thing sport can do and the Australian cricket can do is put smiles on faces rather than everyone throwing stones and shooting guns at each other."

The way forward for the Australians starts with 'elite honesty', a phrase Langer says is all about being able to both give and receive the brutal truth. 

"It’s the Australian way as I know it," said Langer explaining what 'elite honesty' means to him.

"You look at a bloke or a lady in the face and you tell them the truth and you need to really honest with yourself, because if you’re not you’re kidding yourself. 

"The man in the mirror is almost a cliche, but if you want to be successful in life you have got to be able to look yourself in the mirror. 

"You can lie to everyone else, but you can’t lie to yourself. So that’s elite honesty to yourself. 

"And also the Aussie way as I know it is to look a bloke in the eye, look your sister or you mum in the eyes, and tell them the truth and be happy to get some truth back, so that’s elite honesty."

Australia v Proteas, Gillette ODI series, November 2018

First ODI: Perth Stadium, November 4

Second ODI: Adelaide Oval, November 9

Third ODI: Blundstone Arena, Hobart, November 11

Australia squad: Aaron Finch (c), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Alex Carey (vc), Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, D'Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa

South Africa squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Chris Morris, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn.