Australia limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch on Thursday backed Andrew McDonald to take over from Justin Langer as the permanent head coach of the senior men's team.
Cricket Australia on Saturday accepted men's team head coach Justin Langer's resignation. "Justin was offered a short-term extension to his current contract, which sadly he has opted not to accept," stated an official Cricket Australia release.
"He (McDonald) brings a lot of respect from the players. He has a calm approach. He's someone who never seems to get flustered by any situation or result. It's all about the process and making sure that your attention to detail and your preparation and your planning is 100 per cent," Sydney Morning Herald quoted Finch as saying.
"He brings a really good attitude around the group. He's been with the team for quite a while now. It's exciting times. I've worked with him for a long time, we played together for a long time, I know he's very good at his job," he added.
Finch also praised Test skipper Pat Cummins for dealing with the Langer issue head on. On Wednesday, Cummins had broken his silence on the issue, saying he is sticking up for his mates and Langer should not be surprised as the evaluation was going on for two years.
"We sat down in August and talked through all of that about things to improve and gave our feedback. That was as much conversation that I've really had about it all. Like Pat said yesterday, it's not our decision to be made but we gave all our feedback along the way and we've got to move on from all that now and start with the Australian cricket team hopefully winning this series," said Finch.
"Like Paddy said yesterday, guys are sticking up for their mate and we're doing the same thing. JL did an amazing job for four years and that ended with a brilliant T20 World Cup win and a brilliant 4-0 Ashes win. As a playing group we couldn't thank him enough and I know personally, the amount of work he's done for me as a batter, as a person, as a leader has been fantastic," he added.
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.
Langer was appointed as the men's team coach in 2018 after the Sandpaper Gate which saw David Warner, Steve Smith serving out one-year bans. Under Langer, Australia managed to win the T20 World Cup 2021 and then the Ashes.
( With inputs from ANI )
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