The Ashes 2021-22: Still Have Nightmares About His Innings In That Third Test – Justin Langer On Ben Stokes' Headingley Heroics In 2019

Australia Men’s Cricket Team Head Coach Justin Langer has said that he still has nightmares about Ben Stokes’ Headingley heroics in the Ashes 2019.

Star all-rounder Ben Stokes performed exceptionally in the 2019 Ashes Leeds Test. He bowled brilliantly in the match and then smashed a match-winning 135 not out.

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Talking about Stokes, the Australian head coach said that the English all-rounder is a great cricketer and an unbelievable athlete. He said:

“He’s a great cricketer, no doubt about that. I still have nightmares about his innings in that third Test, I probably have more nightmares about his spell on day three of that game. He’s an unbelievable athlete and a great competitor.”

Langer also added that he is glad to see Stokes making a comeback in the team and was hoping that his health is good. Australia head coach said:

“It’s great for the game of cricket that Ben Stokes is playing Ashes cricket, We all love it as an Australian summer and it probably wouldn’t be the same without the best players playing. It’s nice to see and hopefully his health is good. We welcome him here because he is one of the superstars of the game.”

Notably, Stokes was set to miss The Ashes 2021-22 as he had taken a break from the game to preserve his mental and physical health. However, just ahead of the marquee series he has announced his comeback.

The Hardest Part Of The Job Is Selecting An Australian Test XI – Justin Langer

Tim Paine, who was set to don the gloves for Australia in the marquee series, stepped down from captaincy following the involvement in the sexting scandal, and he has also decided to take an ” indefinite mental health break” from cricket. However, Alex Carey has been handed the gloves in Paine’s absence and he will be making his Test debut in the marquee Ashes 2021-22 series.

Now the wicketkeeper-batsman problem is solved Australia will have to select a middle-order batsman between Travis Head and Usman Khawaja for the final batting slot and they will have to select one pacer between Mitchell Starc and Jhye Richardson.

Meanwhile, Justin Langer said that the hardest job for them is to select the Australia Playing XI for the Ashes. He elaborated:

“The hardest part of the job is selecting an Australian Test XI. For the first two years, I took it quite personally, because you can’t win…there’s 20 million Australians with an opinion on the Test team, A lot of work goes in, there’s a lot of data now, a lot of discussion, a lot of cricket wisdom around.”

Langer further added that he will not give away all the secret of Australia XI and will leave it to the England cricket team and the fans to decide it. He stated:

” When it comes to the XI, I’m not being a smart Alec, but we’re not going to give away all our secrets. We’ve been so organised and had our squad available a long time, we’ll leave a few secrets for England. We’re pretty settled on who the XI will be, but it’s all part of the theatre and drama heading up to the first Test – you guys can keep guessing, the people in the pubs can keep guessing, the people watching cricket can keep guessing.”

Also Read: Ajaz Patel Picks A 5-Wicket Haul In 1st Innings Of Mumbai Test, Becomes The 1st New Zealand Spinner To Reach This Feat In India

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