When An Emotional Justin Langer 'Grabbed' Adam Gilchrist By His Neck And 'Chucked Him Towards The Wall'

Justin Langer, former Australian Test opener and the current head coach, has revealed that once out of frustration, he had ‘grabbed’ his former teammate Adam Gilchrist by his neck and ‘chucked him towards the wall’ during the 2001 Ashes series in England.

Langer was the incumbent No.3 in Australia’s line-up for the Ashes series that summer but with Damien Martyn in such brilliant form in the tri-series [Natwest Trophy] ahead of the Test series that the Aussie team-management decided to drop the gritty Western Australian opener from the opening Test.

And, interestingly, it was Justin Langer’s ‘hero’ Steve Waugh who broke the news to him before the Test match.

“About two days before the first Test, I had a knock on the door from the legend Steve Waugh, who literally was my hero. [He] knocks on the door of my hotel room… walked into my room and says, ‘I don’t know how to tell you this mate, but you are not playing in the first Test.’ I didn’t know whether to cry on his shoulders or punch him out,” Justin Langer told Shane Watson on the all-rounder ‘Lessons learned with Legends’ Podcast.

“This is my hero and my big brother, telling me that I was out [of the first Test], and I was literally shocked, I just didn’t see it coming. Damien Martyn had been in such amazing form in the one-day series leading up to it and he was so good [that] they couldn’t ignore him, and I was the casualty from it,” he added.

“What happened next was … I was doing all the physical stuff that Aussie blokes do, but what I wasn’t doing, I had to let go of the emotional bit – ‘I’m 31 years old, it’s the end of the dream, I’m out, I’m gone.’ And so for the next six-seven-eight weeks, I was playing the practice games, and I was batting so bad because I was trying so hard,” Langer further recalled.

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‘Look what you blokes have done to me!’ and I got really upset,” Justin Langer

Interestingly, Steve Waugh injured himself ahead of the fourth Test which created an opening for the southpaw in the playing XI. But as luck would have it, Langer got dismissed for a duck in the warm-up game against Sussex and was once again overlooked for the 4th Test. It was at this point that Adam Gilchrist, who was flaying the Sussex attack even as Langer struggled to ‘get the ball off the square’, bore the brunt of the former opener’s emotional outburst.

“I remember at Sussex and I’m thinking, ‘This is my chance, come on, Tugga [Steve Waugh] is out, this is my chance.’ At Sussex, I remember the first innings, I batted with Gilly, and I nearly started crying at the crease because Gilly is smacking them all around the park. I can’t even hit the ball to the square,” Langer said.

“Then I’m like, ‘C’mon, if I’ll get some runs in the second innings, I’ll play the next Test.’ Then they are going back 10 minutes before stumps, and I was opening the batting… there’s nothing worse. And I’m like, ‘C’mon, just get through 10-15 minutes’, and I’m out for a duck. What happens next is I’m walking off at the Hove and I wanted the whole ground to open up and swallow me,” he added.

“Adam Gilchrist, he is one of my great friends, and who was the captain, I grabbed him by the neck and chucked him up against the wall, ‘Look what you blokes have done to me!’ and I got really upset,” Justin Langer recalled.

Justin Langer ultimately regained his place in the side in the 5th Test after Michael Slater was dropped. The southpaw celebrated his comeback with an unbeaten 102 as Australia clinched the Test and the Ashes 4-1.

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