Pat Cummins has hit back at Justin Langer’s assertion that ‘cowards’ leaked against him during his tenure as national coach, declaring “there are no cowards in the Australian cricket team”.
Speaking ahead of Australia’s opening Test of the summer against the West Indies, the Aussie captain defended both himself and his teammates, saying they should all be proud of the way they’ve conducted themselves.
The 29-year-old’s comments came after Langer walked back the ‘coward’ claims he made in an explosive interview with CODE Sports.
The former Aussie coach insisted he wasn’t referring to any of the players when using the offensive term in a later interview with Channel 7.
“There’re no cowards in the Australian cricket team, not ever,” Cummins said in Perth.
“I thank Justin for I guess clarifying his remarks afterwards.
“I think he had a think about it and clarified it, so thank him for that.
“But we’re really proud of the last 12 months, how we’ve fronted up, the way we’ve played, the way we’ve conducted ourselves.
“Players can certainly hold their heads high.”
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Cummins also took a swipe at Langer, who resigned from his role as Aussie coach 10 months ago, over his decision to disclose details of private conversations with various players.
Cummins, who was one of the players to have details of his private conversations leaked, told reporters on Tuesday: “I’d probably never disclose private conversations.
“I think there’s no ill will to what he was trying to do and he clarified afterwards.
“We always like to talk about the cricket.
“I feel like there’s so many good things going on at the moment, especially this Test team number one in the world and had a fantastic 12 months.
“Coming over here to play the first Test match in Perth for a few years, there’s so many good stories around the week.
‘I think it’s disappointing sometimes the focus gets drawn to off-field issues but it hasn’t really affected our team.
“I’m looking forward to seeing him as well. He’ll be in and around here commentating so it’ll be good.”
Cummins also announced Australia’s Test team to face the West Indies in Perth on Wednesday, with Ashes hero Scott Boland left out of the side.
Aussie XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.
