Justin Langer - talent Justin-fied

Karthik Narayan

Human hunger is insatiable, and a theory was framed by a young clergyman by name Alfred Marshall on that topic. Well I’m no economist to argue with that, but a young man is out to prove that theory in the field of cricket. Test Cricket has had its share of the Lees and the yells over a wicket. Brett Lee yells when he gets a wicket. Mr. Justin Lee Langer howls the victory yell when he pouches yet another great low earth gripping, tremor whipping catch at forward short leg. And that’s not all he does, he also yells for joy as he scrambles another single for a hundred, his hunger for runs is insatiable.

He got his first bite of test cricket against the WI when they toured Australia in 1997 at the Adelaide Oval. He made 20 and 54 on debut, not something to really potter about. Initially in his career, he was predominantly a number three batsman, because he was the technically correct player in the team.

He finally broke the myth that he was going to be the one of the best one-down batsman in the world, when he was promoted to open the innings in the Fifth and Final Ashes 2001 test at the Oval, as he made a scintillating century. In his next test, against the NZ at Brisbane, he again opened and made an unbeaten hundred and another at Hobart in the immediately next test. By this time, Hayden had arrived, and together, they started on their dream hunger satisfaction process. Now he can claim to be one of the world’s best Test openers of all time!

Well Langer’s strength is standing at the crease for a long time, hence his phenomenal success. He is a grafter for runs, waits for the loose balls, eases onto the front foot or back foot, and then majestically drives or cuts or pulls. He does not score quickly in the Australian way of 4.5 runs an over. He would rather go at 2.5 – 3 an over. He is a high scorer, not a quick one.

Imagine double century partnerships and immediately the pair of Hayden – Langer come to mind. The duo of Hayden and Langer has conquered every new ball line up by sizing them up in a matter of minutes and then holding fort to dominate proceedings. They both are not in the same mould, Hayden is the mauler, he goes for the attacking shots when he gets his eye in, whereas Langer prefers to milk the bowling, wait for the bad ball, and punish it with a good authentic classic cricketing stroke. They have changed the face of opening pairs with their path breaking, record breaking streak of more than 50 tests together, over 5500 runs together for the first wicket, 14 hundred plus partnerships with 6 of them being double hundred scores, which is a world record!

The figures are not quite what they show. Langer has nearly 60% of his 7500 (plus) runs in Home tests, and as many as 15 hundreds of 23 in 76 tests have come at home. That may be an indication that his adaptation to alien conditions is not quite there. Also a factor to think about if one is a Langer fan is that he gets the good starts in his innings. 2004 was his best year - he scored 1481 runs with five centuries.

The most important thing for any test batsman, especially an opener is the start. The first few overs of the bowling of the opposition when the bowlers are fresh and hostile, that’s the time for patience. Just wait till the ball gets a bit old, and the new ball bowlers tire out.

For the connoisseurs of the game, once a batsman gets to a score of 30 overcoming the hostility of the new ball bowlers, getting out at that juncture is the worst sin. The bowlers are tiring, they are the end of their spells, at that time the batsman has the upper hand and must go on to convert that start into a big score. Justin Langer needs to understand that and convert his starts into big scores. Especially when it comes to batting outside of Australia he has this knack of getting out after the gets his eye in.

Sometimes in the name of being aggressive against the spinners, he ends up gifting his priceless wicket to a ball which he would have otherwise done away with. He has the flair for batting long timelessly classic innings. And he is built in that manner, the classic cult kind of left-hander. Also one other factor against Langer is that he has never been a success at the ODI level, given all his great deeds at the test level. He has represented Australia in barely 8 ODIs; with a unique record of not having played even a single ODI at home. And he probably has wound up his ODI career; his last ODI came against England at Lord’s in 1997.

Justin Langer crouches low with a helmet so close to the ground to grab everything that comes his way in his own unique style at forward short leg. Stunning high-speed camera-movements are seen when he takes the ball with high screaming reflexes at close quarters. So many great catches at forward short leg just prompted the greatest Aussie Skipper of all time, Steve Waugh to comment that Langer may go down in History as the greatest Forward Short Leg ever!

Langer has had this great hunger in the last four years for runs.. And he has been doing well for Australian Cricket. If hunger for runs was ever to be measured, I think Langer would be one of the weight-ages to be used in that measurement. All is left is Langer scoring more runs outside his country.. And scoring them in the heaps and with the same appetite showed so far.

All the very best, Mate and remember, there is no Hunger Help Line in Cricket Australia; it’s all self service, and if you don’t serve yourself, others serve you with a Send-Off party! Its been a tough season, with some low scores. I guess you want to quit while you are ahead. I respect that decision.

This is my tribute to you, dear mate. Its been a good time we had with you. Its very sad to see you off, its not the way to begin a new year, with three major heroes sounding the gong. but all the best in your career mate.