Justin Langer wants to come out of retirement
Former Australian star batsman Justin Langer wants to come out of retirement. The opener has expressed his desire to play at the Ashes. This statement will gain a lot of weightage especially at a time when Australian opener Phil Hughes is under tremendous pressure to perform.
Hughes, who had a brilliant Test series against the South Africans early this year, following it with a wonderful county season with Middlesex where he scored three centuries in as many matches, has been a shadow of himself and has been a flop in the Ashes series so far.
The opener scored 36 in the first Test and managed just 4 and 17 in the two innings of the second Test at Lord’s which England won by 115 runs to lead the five match series 1-0.
In comparison, the retired southpaw who bid adieu to international cricket 19 months ago, is going strong and eclipsed Don Bradman’s 28,067 runs on Thursday to become the highest Australian scorer in first-class cricket.
The 38-year-old admitted watching the Ashes series has whetted his appetite to come out of retirement. “One of the boys in the changing room said to me, ‘If they asked you to play tomorrow, how much would it take?’ I replied that I would play the third Test for Australia next week for nothing. I do miss Test cricket,†Langer was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.
Langer said the first time he missed Test cricket following his retirement was when Australia took on South Africa last year. “I miss the big series. I missed being involved in Australia-South Africa last summer. That was the first time I got pangs to be back out there. And it is exactly the same with the Ashes. I miss the hype,†said Langer.
“And I also miss the challenge of playing against Andrew Flintoff. That is what it’s all about. That’s the great test for a batsman. I really miss those sort of battles. There’s a lot I don’t miss, but I’d play in the Ashes tomorrow if I was asked.â€
