Justin Langer fails to win England coaching job – and his leadership style helped cost him the gig

Justin Langer will not take up the role of England coach after being overlooked for the position.

The 51-year-old coached Australia to a 4-0 drubbing of England in the summer and was among the potential candidates to replace Chris Silverwood, who was sacked after the tourists’ calamitous series.

Langer’s race, however, appears to have run its course due to concerns over his coaching style and the desire from England’s newly-appointed director of cricket Rob Keys to separate white and red ball duties.

According to British newspapers The Telegraph and The Guardian, Key is determined to split the coaching roles and has already approached Gary Kirsten for the role of Test coach.

Kirsten, the former South Africa and India coach, was in the frame to secure the job in 2019 and flew to the UK to seal the deal, only to be overlooked in favour of Silverwood instead. 

The 54-year-old, who played the majority of his 101 Test matches for his country as opening batsman, was reportedly approached by Key for the role shortly after the latter was formally appointed last week.

Rob Key left his job as Sky Sports last week to become England’s new director of cricket

The former England batter, who played 21 times for England across all formats, spent the last six years as commentator with Sky Sports and replaced Ashley Giles, who lost his job in the wake of the Ashes debacle.  

Reports in Britain also suggested there were reservations over whether Langer would be a good fit for the head coaching job if, as expected, Ben Stokes will replace Joe Root as captain.

Root relinquished the captaincy earlier this month and while Stokes has previously distanced himself from the job, he is understood to be the clear front-runner to replace his teammate in the position. 

Gary Kirsten is the favourite to be appointed as Chris Silverwood’s successor

But former Australian batsman Simon Katich is still thought to be in the running 

Langer led Australia to lift the T20 World Cup last year before the successful Ashes campaign, only to resign less than a month after Australia had retained the urn. 

NewsCorp reported in March that he had been approached to coach the Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League next season, but a decision is yet to be made.

Meanwhile, former Australia’s opener Simon Katich is also thought to be in the running for the role of England’s Test coach.

The 46-year-old is the head coach of the Manchester Originals in The Hundred – the short-format competition that debuted in England last year – and spent nine seasons playing domestic cricket in the UK with five different counties.