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Windies tour not an audition: Langer

WA coach takes Australia reins for Caribbean tri-series and insists he's just giving Lehmann a break and not a trial for a full-time role

Justin Langer begins his tenure as caretaker coach of Australia's men's team at pains to point out he's not auditioning for Darren Lehmann's job, and not altogether certain that returning to international cricket is an ambition he harbours deeply.

Langer, the former Test opener who has built a global coaching reputation since taking over the Alcohol.Think Again Western Warriors and Perth Scorchers in the KFC Big Bash League, will lead Australia to next month's ODI tri-series in the Caribbean to grant Lehmann a break.

But while Lehmann has previously anointed Langer as a likely successor when he walks away from the job in coming years and Langer himself has flagged interest in the position, the stand-in coach does not see the ODI series against the West Indies and South Africa as a trial run for the future.

Prior to today's departure of a bulk of the 16-man squad (minus those players still involved in the Indian Premier League), Langer told cricket.com.au that he was viewing the three-week assignment simply as an opportunity to continue the methods and messages employed by Lehmann since he took over in 2013.

Image Id: ~/media/4337CCF0D8D847D3B2432FCB87253169 Image Caption: Langer celebrates reclaiming the Ashes at the WACA in 2006 // Getty

The 45-year-old, who played 105 Tests and remains Australia's all-time highest first-class runs scorer, does not see his caretaker appointment as a portent or a road test and is still in two minds as to whether leaving his role in his home town of Perth for the relentless international job is the right move.

Having travelled virtually non-stop during his Test career from 1993-2007 and then continuing as a first-class player for WA and Somerset post-Test retirement, Langer walked straight into a role as national team batting coach before accepting his "dream job" in Perth to spend more time with his family – wife Sue and the couple's four daughters.

The reason he steps into Lehmann's shoes for the coming tri-series that begins in Guyana on June 5 is to give the incumbent coach a break from a travel schedule that sees the Australia team on the road for around 300 days of each year.

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"I think the natural progression would be to one day coach the Australian cricket team, or certainly that would be an aspiration," Langer said when asked if he still held his previously aired national coaching ambitions that he indicated last year might materialise "in 10 years' time".

"But I also know, having lived that life for so long, that you're away from home for 11 months of the year and I also don't think we can under-estimate the importance of the role I'm doing at the moment as the head coach of one of the state teams.

"So who knows what will happen in the future.

"Certainly this West Indies tour I'm looking forward to it, but I'm doing it with the respect it deserves.

"I'm helping Darren out, I'm going to make sure the ship keeps running nice and smoothly in his absence and I think that's the respect I can give him, it's the respect I would expect if someone else was doing (for me) what I'm doing for him.

"Boof's doing a great job, I really admire how he's going about his business and if I can help him for a few weeks then I'm happy to do that."

Image Id: ~/media/2E68D066DB53463784D5A4A83E6D2AEF Image Caption: Langer celebrates a Big Bash title with his Perth Scorchers // Getty

Regardless of whether Langer chooses to pursue an international role or remain in Perth where he has guided the Warriors to a Matador BBQs One-Day Cup title and consecutive Sheffield Shield finals as well as back-to-back BBL wins for the Scorchers since taking over in 2012, he won't be looking further afield than Australia.

His name was closely linked to the vacant England coaching position when Peter Moores was sacked prior to last year's Ashes series in the UK, and Langer was directly approached by his good friend and former Middlesex teammate Andrew Strauss who is now Director of England Cricket.

But Langer, a fiercely patriotic cricketer who came to embody the devotion to the Baggy Green cap under Steve Waugh's captaincy, revealed that he simply couldn't picture himself coaching a team in a Test match against Australia and the job went to former NSW batsman Trevor Bayliss instead.

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"Who knows what's going to happen in life, life's a funny thing, but if I was ever going to coach internationally I imagine it would be for Australia," Langer told cricket.com.au.

"There was some discussion before the last Ashes, I had a couple of conversations with Andrew Strauss before Trevor Bayliss was selected as the England coach and I thought professionally it would probably be a great opportunity.

"But personally, with my kids at home, I'm finally back in Western Australia and I've got probably the dream job.

"There's only one of those in my home town, as head coach of Western Australia.

"And then the thought of the (2015) first Ashes Test, Cardiff, the national anthem, I'm looking over at all my mates singing the Australian national anthem and I'm in an England tracksuit singing the English national anthem.

"It just didn't feel right."