Justin Langer has resigned as the head coach of Australia.
The former opening batsman’s contract was set to expire in June, but he rejected a six-month extension and decided to end his deal with immediate effect.
Andrew McDonald, who was Langer’s assistant, has been placed as the temporary coach of the team.
Following the ball tampering scandal with Steve Smith and David Warner in 2018, Langer, 51, was appointed as the team’s new boss and it has been a successful four years.
The team reached the semi finals of the 2019 world cup and retained the Ashes in England during the summer of the same year.
Last October, Australia won their first-ever T20 world cup and produced a dominant 4-1 thrashing of England to retain the Ashes at home, which makes Langer’s resignation all the more surprising.
A statement via his management company read: “DSEG confirms that our client Justin Langer has this morning tendered his resignation as coach of the Australian men's cricket team.
"The resignation follows a meeting with Cricket Australia last evening. The resignation is effective immediately.”
Cricket Australia Chief executive Nick Hockley provided a statement of his own regarding Langer’s shock decision.
“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,” he began.
"It included the opportunity to defend the T20 World Cup title in Australia at the end of this year.
"We are naturally disappointed Justin has decided against continuing as coach, but we respect his decision and wish him all the best in the future.”
Despite the impressive results on the field during his tenure, reports suggested some players were unhappy with Langer's ruthless and hard-style approach to management.
Therefore, Cricket Australia were reportedly unwilling to grant him a long-term contract to remain in his role, and eventually offered him a short-term extension to his current deal that he ultimately declined.
Now out of a job, Langer, who played 105 Tests and eight ODIs during his 14-year international career, is a wanted man and Andrew Strauss, England's interim managing director, is eyeing him as a potential replacement for Chris Silverwood, who was sacked as England head coach.
He said: “Now let's take a step back. What are we looking for? Are we looking for split coaches or one coach? And what are the requirements in each of those formats, so to speak, and Justin Langer. I know him well.
"On the surface, he's done a very good job of that with the Australian team. So I wouldn't rule him out, but I'm sure there are plenty of others as well.”
Australia are set to host Sri Lanka in a five-match T20 series starting next Friday, before heading to Pakistan for a test series.
