Justin Langer smashes Pat Cummins for going behind his back when he lost Aussie cricket coaching job

The ghost of Justin Langer’s coaching career will loom over the Test summer, with the former mentor lashing out at delayed feedback from older players, leaks and the Cricket Australia board.

Just a week after Australia’s first Test against the West Indies, Langer claimed those campaigning against him were cowards and insisted that the majority of players supported him.

The former coach also wondered how after winning the Twenty20 World Cup and Ashes he didn’t get a proper extension beyond the six months offered at the end of last summer.

The ghost of Justin Langer’s coaching career will loom over the Test summer, with the former mentor lashing out at delayed feedback from senior players, leaks and the Cricket Australia board

Just a week away from Australia’s first Test against the West Indies, Langer (pictured with Pat Cummins) claimed those campaigning against him were cowards and insisted that the majority of players supported him

It comes before Langer joins the Seven Network’s commentary team this summer, making it likely that the story will be an ongoing theme throughout the season.

In a lengthy podcast interview, Langer praised former captain Tim Paine’s feedback while complaining that he believed the likes of current leader Pat Cummins and white-ball skipper Aaron Finch needed more time to be direct.

“I spoke to Pat Cummins. He said to me about five times, ‘This might be brutally honest,'” Langer recalled to Code Sports.

“I said, ‘Pat, there’s nothing sassy about your feedback. What is ruthless is that I hear it behind my back through the media or through sources.”

‘No one tells me. Say.

“People say I’m very intense, but they confuse intensity with honesty.”

Former coach Justin Langer has criticized the role of test captain Pat Cummins (pictured with his partner Rebecca Boston) in his passing

Langer said he grew tired of the leaks about his future, adamant it was different from what players told him.

It first became apparent that Langer was under pressure to hold down his job more than 12 months after his eventual departure, when rumblings around his intense nature began to emerge.

“Everyone was nice to my face, but I read about this stuff,” Langer said.

‘Many journalists use the word ‘source’. I’d say change that word to “coward.”

‘Cause what do you mean a source says?

“Either they have an ax to grind with and they won’t come and say it to your face, or they’re just leaking things for their own agenda.”

Langer remains adamant that he acted on player feedback ahead of last year’s T20 World Cup win, and should have been rewarded with a decent extension.

Langer (pictured) remains adamant that he acted on player feedback ahead of last year’s T20 World Cup victory, and should have been rewarded with a decent extra time.

Others, on the other hand, argue that Langer took a significant backseat during the World Cup in the UAE and that assistants and players were the driving force.

But Langer said his situation was similar to a player who wants to improve in a certain format, plays the lead role in it, and then gets suspended because the coaches liked someone else better anyway.

“The hardest thing for me was, I got the feedback[and]I did something about it,” Langer said.

“We won the T20 World Cup, we won the Ashes. We were number 1 in the world … and I’m still fired.

‘You can’t give someone feedback, do something about it and then that happens.’