Australia Test: Former Australian coach Justin Langer, who excelled as an opener in the Test team, wishes to see the current selectors preferring a specialist opener instead of promoting all-rounder Cameron Green to the top of the order.
The discussion for Australia’s next Test opener has been intense ever since David Warner played his last red-ball game against Pakistan at Sydney. Apart from Green, Steven Smith, Marcus Harris, Cameron Bancroft and Matt Renshaw are the current potential candidates to take Warner’s role.
Harris, Bancroft and Renshaw are specialist openers, while Green and Smith are middle-order batters. “I hope they don’t open with him (Green). He hasn’t opened before. The only reason he is in the discussion about it is that the Australian team and selectors obviously want to get him into the team.”
“But sometimes you have to wait. He missed out with a slight hamstring issue in England and that opened the door for Mitch Marsh, who has done a great job ever since. I believe you have to have a specialist opener. We tried this with Matthew Wade.
“We tried this with Aaron Finch, who selflessly did it for the team. And I am sure Cameron Green or Steve Smith might do that. But I believe with India coming over next year and then the Ashes in Australia, the sooner they get into a specialist opener, the better, because it is a very specialised position,” said Langer to Perth radio station 6PR on Sunday.
Langer also feels the selectors are facing a tricky decision over choosing Warner’s successor given the specialist openers in Bancroft, Harris and Renshaw have claims for selection into the Test team.
“The hardest part about being the coach of Australia was being a selector because, one, you can’t fit 12 or 13 or 14 into 11. It is impossible. And two, if I pick Cameron Bancroft, the Vics are going to say ‘That’s rubbish. You should have picked Harris’.”
“And if they pick Bancroft or Harris, the Queenslanders will say, ‘That is rubbish. You should have picked Renshaw.’ Thankfully I don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
Australia’s selectors are expected to decide on who will replace Warner ahead of selecting the squad for the two-match Test series against West Indies starting on January 17 in Adelaide.