Justin Langer Hints at Change in the ODI Captaincy

Australia’s head coach, Justin Langer has indicated a possible change in the ODI captaincy of the team.

As Tim Paine had failed to deliver the goods with the bat, the wicketkeeper-batsman can lose out on his captaincy duties.

In fact, Tim Paine had himself hinted at a possible retirement from the 50-overs format when his team received a thrashing of 5-0 at the hands of England.

Tim Paine had failed to deliver the goods with the bat.

Langer said Paine had done a good job in the aftermath of the ball-tampering. However, it is crucial for the captain to lead from the front with the bat.

It is noted the team gains confidence if the skipper of the side scores runs or takes wickets. Thus, Paine will have to come up good with the bat.

“We’ve got to work out whether he’s going to play his best cricket in white-ball cricket and if he does he’s a chance, and if he doesn’t then we’ll probably have to look somewhere else,” Langer said. “We’ll have a really close look at a whole number of things when we get back from England and Zimbabwe next week and we’ll move from there,” he added.

Meanwhile, the former Australian Test opener added Paine had done a good job in the reconstructing the Australian cricket after the ball-tampering scandal.

Paine had talked about the new ideas in the Australian team and said his team should be more respectful to their opponents. In fact, the change is also palpable on the field.

“I was with Trevor Hohns (national selector) today. No doubt Tim has had a tough time here. He’s done a brilliant job since South Africa in steadying the ship. In fact, he’s an outstanding young man. He’s also tough. You saw him get hit in the face in the second game, he had stitches all in his face, it’s reminiscent to me of a lot of the great Australian captains.”

Langer added Paine is fit as a fiddle. The gloveman had done a good job in leading Australia with aplomb. However, Paine will have to produce runs with the bat to make his case stronger.

“He’s incredibly fit. He’s got high capacity as a person so he can pull it off, but it is a hard thing to do. We’ll certainly have to look at it, there’s no doubt” Langer summarized.