Justin Langer's Career Full of Luck, Sliding Door Moments and Success

When Justin Langer was a kid, his uncle Robbie played World Series Cricket and represented WA, while his dad played A grade for Scarborough. Being around the cricket environment often and listening to the stories of Viv Richards and the best players in the world, had a strong impact on a young ‘JL’, as every Sunday morning he learnt and practised the basics of cricket in the backyard.

Progressing through the junior ranks of club cricket and school cricket, Justin pinpointed a pivotal moment in his early career.

“In Year 12, I took a month out of study and went on a combined schoolboys tour to England. We ended up playing about 20 games of cricket in a month. I got a hundred at Lords when I was 16, and it was at that point where I thought oh, mate, how cool would it be to try and play cricket for a living?”

Club cricket in Western Australia and time at the Cricket Academy held Justin in good stead as he worked hard to improve and get better every day.

After impressing for Western Australia, at the age of 22 he was called upon to make his Test debut against the West Indies at Adelaide Oval.

“Jeez I’ve had some luck in my life”, Langer said.

“I remember, unluckily, Damien Martyn got poked in the eye in a training drill by Bobby Simpson, the coach.”

“I found out literally at 9am the day before, and I flew to Adelaide because I was playing my first Test at 10 o'clock the next morning in Adelaide. It’s amazing how things work, sliding door moments. Alan Border as my captain and David Boon, they were my heroes.”

An introduction to Test cricket unlike many others awaited, a “baptism of fire” as Justin described it. An “unbelievably strong West Indies team”, Justin had no issues rattling off some of the all-time greats he came up against on debut.

“They had Ian Bishop, Curtley Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Kenny Benjamin, Richie Richardson, Brian Lara, it was a great cricket team. 


“It was certainly a baptism of fire, but like a lot of things, I've learned that often they’re the times where you learn the most.”

After five tests, Langer was dropped for the ‘93 Ashes series, which was “like the end of the world”. Knowing he had to either quit or get better, back to the Cricket Academy he went, where he and Rod Marsh, who he said had the greatest influence on his career, went about getting himself back to the top level.

After three tests on and off, in and around the Australian setup but not quite there, Langer was finally back in the team for a test series in Pakistan in 1998:

First innings, Wasim Akram had him “plumb LBW” first ball. Second innings, after being given not out when he was in his own words again “plumb LBW” first ball, he went on to make his first Test hundred, the same Test that Mark Taylor scored 334 not out.

Langer spent three years in the Test team batting at number three, before some selection decisions in 2001 meant Justin was promoted to open the batting for the second half of his career.

“It wasn't until my third hundred, against West Indies in Antigua, where I thought, ‘righto, I reckon I can make it here’ and then the confidence kept growing.

“Then I got dropped again in 2001, which shook me because I was 31. I thought I'd never play again. I’d played 50 odd tests by then batting at three.

"Then in the last test of 2001 I got to open with my best mate Haydos, and the rest is history as they say.”

Looking back on his playing career, one highlight that stands out most for Langer are bowing out with some greats of the game, after playing in such an amazing team for his whole career.

“That whole period, playing with that group, and then of course, to retire on the same day with Warney and Glenn McGrath. I was actually a bit embarrassed because they were absolute icons of the game. To retire with those guys after the journey we'd all had together, it was an unbelievable team.”

Reflecting on his career, Justin said:

“My first test I got hit in the helmet, my 100th test I got hit in the helmet. First ball, both times, but I was still able to sort of bounce back off the canvas and play in some great teams, make lots of friends, great memories and made a few runs along the way.”

After a playing career that spanned 105 Tests, 360 First Class matches and over 28,000 First Class runs, Langer transitioned swiftly into coaching.

After a year as an Assistant with the Australian team, Langer became Head Coach of the WA and the Perth Scorchers, which he referred to as “the greatest apprenticeship of all time”, before becoming Head Coach of the Australian Men’s team.

Some highlights from Langer’s tenure as Australian Coach include retaining the Ashes in England in 2019 for the first time since Justin was a player in 2001, Australia’s first T20 World Cup win in 2021 and a 4-0 Ashes win at home in 2021-22.

“It was an incredible privilege”, Langer said.

“It was a great honour. I forged some great friends throughout that period. The players and the coaches I worked with, I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.

“It helped me become a much better coach and a much better person. It was brilliant, but a tough gig.”

*Aus coaching*

After a break from coaching, Justin was spending his time on the boards of Mineral Resources and the West Coast Eagles AFL club, which he described as unbelievable experiences. Elsewhere, he has also been writing an article for the West Australian once a week, and commentating with Channel 7.

“I can write on any topic I want. It’s my creative time and I love that, I love the creativity of it.

“Commentating for Channel 7 in the summer, my favourite job of the year,
I'm with my best mates talking about the game I love.”

Getting back into coaching with the Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL and the London Spirit in the Hundred, he says he’s got the bug back.

“I do love coaching, and I think whoever I coach into the next few years will probably get the best version of me as a coach, because I've seen a lot, I've experienced a lot, I'm much more rounded and much more grounded from things that have happened.”

Justin is also “lucky enough” to be a patron of six different charities. WA-based mental health charity ‘zero 2 hero’ is one of these, mental health being something he’s quite passionate about.

“We see broken arms, we see torn hamstrings, we see broken fingers, but we don't see mental illness.

“It's really important to take time to look after that such incredibly high value in our life, which is our health, physical and mental.”

While there’s been a bit happen since a 27-year-old Justin sat in a meeting in Canterbury, Kent in 1997, in what turned out to be the infancy of the ACA, like many past players the appreciation of the ACA has remained.

“We had this big meeting, and it was a stressful time. People talking about going on strike and all sorts of stuff.

“There's no question through the ACA and all the work that's gone into it, that we've all been able to live a very privileged lifestyle.”