Ponting, Hayden slam 'embarrassing' Langer exit

Test legends Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden have slammed Cricket Australia (CA) for its handling of Justin Langer's departure as head coach of the national men’s team, while a tearful Hayden has said the lack of public backing from players in the lead-up to Langer's resignation would have been "extremely hurtful" for his former teammate.

Langer resigned his post today, effective immediately, the morning after a meeting of the Cricket Australia board where the 51-year-old's future as head coach was discussed at length.

Ponting labelled Langer's exit, almost five months before his contract was due to expire, "a really sad day" and said the way CA's board and executives handled Langer's exit, as well as that of former Test skipper Tim Paine late last year, had been "almost embarrassing".

"I think it's a really sad day as far as Australian cricket is concerned," Ponting told ABC radio.

"And if you look back, it's been a really poor six months. I think of the way that Cricket Australia as a whole have handled some of the better people in Australian cricket, Justin Langer and Tim Paine, I think it's been almost embarrassing with the way they've handled those two cases."

A Cricket Australia statement did not address specifics of the review into Langer's future, other than to confirm he had been offered a short-term contract extension.

"CA would like to thank Justin for his outstanding leadership since he became Australian men's team coach in 2018 and for guiding the team to the T20 World Cup title last year and the 4-0 Ashes victory," a CA statement read.

"Justin is not only a legend of the game but an outstanding individual.

"The contract extension offered to Justin was the result of a thorough review process that evaluated many factors including future requirements of the team and the upcoming extensive schedule of fixtures.

"The extension was approved by the CA Board and was put to Justin last night. It included the opportunity to defend the T20 World Cup title in Australia at the end of this year.

"Justin informed CA this morning he was not accepting the offer and would resign with immediate effect."

Hayden, meanwhile, criticised Test captain Pat Cummins for declining in recent weeks to public endorse Langer to get a new contract.

Cummins had insisted that reviewing Langer's suitability for the role was fair in a "high-performance environment" and while he was part of CA's process, it was ultimately not up to him to make the decision on the coach's future.

"It was absolutely clear that no one backed him," a clearly emotional Hayden told the ABC.

"If you listen to the Australian captain the other day not mention once any kind of commendation or support for him, I don't think (Justin) would be going very well at all. That would be extremely hurtful.

"The whole thing just reeks of being orchestrated, basically from the moment all of this garbage started coming out (about Langer's coaching style) in winter last year. You could see the writing was on the wall."

However, Hayden agreed with Ponting that Cummins would have been in "a difficult position" as captain given reports of widespread dissatisfaction with Langer's methods amongst players and staff.

"Deep down, Pat might have known that this day was coming," Ponting told ABC Radio.

"If he had have gone on the front foot and endorsed Justin, they would have been in a position where they wouldn't have been able to move on from him.

"If it's not just him, if there are other players that are coming to him and letting him know that maybe they feel that Justin is not the right man, I think that actually puts Pat in a difficult position as well."

Ponting described Langer as 'like a brother' but added he didn’t get involved in the politics surrounding his former teammate's future, apart from offering Langer personal support.

But he noted the change in landscape of Australian cricket where players have more power than they did in his playing days.

"Never in my time as a player or as captain of the team did us as a player group ever influence what a board was thinking as far as appointments of coaches," he said.

"It seems this time like the players, and maybe a couple of the other personnel around the Australian cricket team, might have been influenced Cricket Australia into the making the decision that they have.

"Reading the tea leaves, it sounds like a few - and (Langer) would say to me a very small (number) of the playing group and he believes a couple of other staff around the team - haven't entirely loved the way that he's gone about it.

"And that's been enough to force (out) a man that's put his life and heart and soul into Australian cricket. (He's) done what I believe has been a sensational job in turning around the culture and the way that the Australian cricket team has been looked at over the last three or four years, (but it) has been enough to push him out of his dream job.

"I am very close to Justin, we're like brothers, but I've not got too heavily involved in this because … there's no way that I could change the way that this looked like it was heading.

"What's happened today, I've sort of felt that has been heading that way for quite a while."