Langer announces big change in Australian lineup ahead of England clash

Australian coach Justin Langer has revealed the player who will replace the injured Usman Khawaja in the semi-final against England. There was a lot of speculation on who amongst Peter Handscomb and Matthew Wade would play in place of Khawaja. Langer has now revealed that the team management have decided to give the nod to Handscomb to play a big role in the middle order.

Speaking to the press, Langer said:

“I’ll tell you the truth. Peter Handscomb will definitely play, 100 percent. He deserves it. He was stiff not to be on this tour, he was so unlucky not to be in the initial squad after what he’d done to get us to that point. He’s in good form, he played well for Australia A, gives us that nice balance in the middle order. He’s got good temperament, he plays spin well, he’s on top of his game, so Pete will definitely play.”

Langer also gave an update on the fitness of all-rounder Marcus Stoinis, who was doubtful for the contest:

“Stoinis looks good. It was a very good nets session actually, there was a bit of heat in there again and it was very competitive and that always brings the best out in Stoinis, so he did a good job today and he’s fit to go.”

Langer also revealed that being humble and working hard was the key to Australia’s success at the World Cup so far:

“If you go back 12 months ago there wasn’t too much to be relaxed and chilled about in Australian cricket, was there And that’s the truth. We went through a major crisis in our cricket. It didn’t just affect our cricket, it affected our country, so there wasn’t too much to be relaxed about. We’ve had to work hard on being more humble in what we do and being focused on playing good cricket but also being good people as well. And I know there will be some English people who will laugh about that but its actually true. We had to work hard on that and that’s a good bunch of players.”