Direct criticism of Cummins is not merited: Hockley on Langer’s exit as coach

Melbourne [Australia], February 7 (ANI): Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley has said that the criticism of Test captain Pat Cummins is unjustified in the case of Justin Langer’s removal as the head coach.
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. After this, former Australia pacer Mitchell Johnson labelled Cummins as “gutless” and said the Test skipper has an agenda to bring his own coach.
“I think throughout the process, Pat has been very respectful (of Langer) and he’s also been very respectful of the private and confidential discussions we’ve had as we’ve consulted really broadly. Pat was certainly consulted … but his feedback was one of a broad amount of consultation. I think for Mitchell to be critical of Pat (is unfair) and any direct criticism of Pat is not merited,” Hockley said in an interview with NewsCorp, as reported by Fox Sports.
“I thought that Mitchell Johnson’s comments were unfair and not merited or reflective of the situation. There has been some discussion about did we let this … has it dragged out. But I would say emphatically that we needed to make sure that with big decisions like this, that we run a thorough process. If we tried to do it during the Ashes it would have been a big distraction and we wouldn’t have been able to do it properly,” 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. (ANI)