Justin Langer the right man for the job, but will be judged on more than results
Related Story: Justin Langer opens door for ball-tampering trio after taking Australia reins
If there is one thing Justin Langer knows how to do it is open strongly.
And so it was little surprise his first metaphorical walk to the crease after being named the new coach of the Australian cricket team, facing the nation's press to explain his philosophy and vision, was impressive.
He talked of playing hard but playing fair. Of mateship in the Australian team being the antidote to bad behaviour. Of values and process coming before results.
All that was missing was Matthew Hayden being sat at the other end of the table.
Langer has been given the sizeable task of leading Australian cricket out of the carnage of the ball-tampering scandal which tarnished the recent tour of South Africa and saw Steve Smith, Cameron Bancroft and David Warner banished from the game for a year.
The former Test opener will officially take charge at the end of the month, after previous incumbent, Darren Lehmann, fell on his sword.
His contract will take him through Ashes series in both England and at home, a Cricket World Cup next year and the ICC World Twenty20 after that.
Those are the fixtures that matter. But his role stretches much further and deeper than merely results.
The events in Cape Town have led to a seismic shift in Australian cricket. A reckoning of sorts. The culture and ethics of the side have been questioned.
Langer's brief is not just to win matches but to restore respect in the national game.
It is a theme he addressed head on at his unveiling. And with a clear belief he is up to the job.
Return of respect the gold standard for Langer
"To me, respect is worth more than all the gold in the world," he said.
"We will look to encourage great cricketers, but also great people. If we can encourage great people and great Australians over the next four years starting from day one, I think that's a really important foundation for us."
Langer has long been viewed as a potential leader of the national team. Recent events have just hurried him in to the role.
As a player he was a hard-as-nails opening batsman with 7,696 runs and 23 centuries to his name.
Part of the great sides of the 1990s and early 2000s, his raw talent did not shine as bright as some others, but his tenacious work ethic saw him prosper and contribute.
On retirement from playing he took to coaching effortlessly.
Named head coach of Western Australia in 2012, he found what he describes as a "dysfunctional family."
He turned the state's fortunes around swiftly, leading the Perth Scorchers to three Big Bash titles and Western Australia to two Sheffield Shield finals.
He even held the reins of the Australian side for a 2016 tour of West Indies when Lehmann took a break.
Tellingly, perhaps, he offered the appraisal that bringing "a bit of love" back was as important as any training drills in Western Australia's revival.
A few members of the current Australian side could probably use an arm around the shoulder at the end of a tumultuous period in their career.
Is Langer a big enough break from the past?
The question hanging over his appointment, however, is whether or not it is a sufficient break from the past to satisfy Cricket Australia's — and the cricketing public's — demands for a fundamentally new way of playing the game.
He was, after all, an active member of teams that have not escaped criticism in the recent inquest.
He is steeped in an era which, in some people's minds, sowed the seeds for what happened with this generation, their hyper-aggression masked by success.
He paid tribute to the honest competitiveness of the likes of Ricky Ponting and Glenn McGrath and reaffirmed the belief that in the moves towards redemption Australia would be wrong to lose its aggressive streak.
'The public will be disappointed if we don't play good, hard, competitive cricket," he said. While accepting that the team "can modify our behaviours".
Marrying the need for change while revering players and teams from the past will be a difficult balancing act.
Langer's record and standing in the game made him one of the most compelling candidates.
And yet in a sense Cricket Australia have hedged their bets, hoping that in Langer they have the best of both worlds: a man of strong morals to bring order back to a culture that has lost its way, but also a will to win that will translate to results on the pitch.
In searching for a change in culture, Cricket Australia might have risked putting players offside had they drafted in someone outside the current set up, a fixer to mend their errant ways.
Langer, they will hope, will be a sufficiently new broom whose high standards will address the core problem that needs fixing with evolution rather than painful revolution.
Assessing Langer's character, and by extension his chances of succeeding in one of the most high-profile sports jobs in the country, is a complicated science.
By his own admission his public persona is one of simply a gritty elite sportsman, serious to the point of obsession.
But there is more to him than that.
The call from CA chairman James Schofield, Langer revealed, brought a sharp end to an unusual practice he indulges in annually.
For one month a year he becomes a "bit of a hippy", declines to shave and choses to go barefoot.
External Link: TWEET: Langer Vaughan
It was a curious admission, but one in keeping with his often-stated belief that sportsman more generally — and cricketers in particular — benefit from having interests and passions outside the game, to relieve the attendant pressures that come with elite sport.
A disciple of martial arts, he claims to have read the book Zen in the Martial Arts 70 times, the life lessons contained within central to his leadership approach.
Ethics are important to the devout Christian. His ship will be run much more tightly than that of his predecessor.
Fierce feedback central to new coach's approach
And yet stories have emanated from the WACA of players being taken to task in as forthright a manner as in any change rooms.
D'Arcy Short, the revelation of last year's Big Bash, was told in no uncertain terms that he should work harder and lose weight or shut the door on his way out.
The on-field response validated Langer's methods in that instance.
Those he now leaves behind in Western Australia have no doubt he will succeed in the national role.
"Justin is a man of great integrity and values and he expects that of his players so, his mantra is always good people over cover drives, and I'm sure he'll take that into the Australian scene," WACA chief executive Christina Matthews said.
"Culture is a funny thing, it can turn around quite quickly if you've got the right people and I would suggest the players will be chomping at the bit to just get into some work with their new coach."
And that is the crux of the issue. Not how he is viewed from the outside, but how the current squad will take to those methods.
In this Cricket Australia has reason for optimism.
His playing record demands instant respect, as does his coaching success. That will be important at an uncertain time for the change room.
The whole side has been tainted by the unconscionable actions of the few, the consensus being that the whole group collectively nurtured an atmosphere in which the worst impulses of a win-at-all-costs mentality were able to express themselves as they have done.
Langer hopes he can find a middle way.
One in which Australian values of integrity and respect, as well as what he described a wealth of talent, can lead the side not just out of one of its darkest episodes, but back to the summit of the game.
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