Langer reveals his 'darkest moment'

Former Test opener Justin Langer has reflected on what he described as "the darkest period of my life" – when he was shocked to be axed from the Test team in 2001, just 12 months after Steve Waugh had declared him the best batsman in the world.

Langer batted at No.3 in Australia's unforgettable Border-Gavaskar series in India in February-March 2001, but modest returns on that tour and the continued strong form of Damien Martyn saw him lose his place for the first Ashes Test in Birmingham.

With Matthew Hayden having established himself in one opening position in India, Ricky Ponting was promoted to No.3 as perhaps the most dominant top order in Australia's history began to take shape.

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He didn't know it at the time, but Langer would become a crucial part of that triumvirate by the end of that Ashes.

Prior to the highs however, the Western Australian had to endure the low of being dropped by his close friend Waugh.

"If I look back it was probably the darkest period of my life actually," he told TABradio this week.

"I got dropped from the Test team and I certainly wasn't expecting it.

"Steve Waugh came to my room, knocked on my door and said, 'Lang, you're out of the first Test'.

"I was shocked.

"Usually when you get dropped you've got a pretty good idea (because) you're not playing well.

"But Damien Martyn had been playing so well so I was the one who got dropped."

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Langer had gone eight Tests without a century going into the Ashes but had been prolific in the period before that, scoring four hundreds in a four-month stretch against Pakistan, India and New Zealand.

The first of those was an epic 127 to help Australia chase down 369 on a wearing fifth-day pitch in Hobart; a knock he has since rated as the finest of his career.

"He was down and out going into the Hobart Test and he's come away with four centuries," Waugh said in March 2000.

"At the moment – today – he is the best batsman in the world."

Flash forward 12 months and the situation was dramatically different; Martyn posted a long-awaited maiden Test hundred at first opportunity, while Langer was left to ponder what it was he was doing wrong, and where his next chance was possibly going to come from.

"For the next six weeks I trained like a machine," he said. "I was so fit, I was hitting a million balls (but) I was averaging about five – I could not score a run.

"And the other thing, as an Aussie bloke, I didn't talk about it.

"I just said, 'Nah, I'll prove everyone wrong'.

"Then Steve Waugh tore his calf for the fourth Test and I thought, 'this is my big chance'.

"(But) I got another duck against Sussex and I remember wanting to get on a plane and come home.

"I thought, 'this is too hard'.

"Steve Waugh said, 'Just hang in there Lang, you never know what could happen'.

"Then out of nowhere they dropped Michael Slater for the last Test match.

"I couldn't have been batting worse or trying harder, so I vowed to just relax and enjoy myself, and as it turned out I opened the batting for the first time with Matthew Hayden and was lucky to score a hundred, and from there I opened for the next few years with my great mate."

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Langer's 102no at The Oval was the turning point of his career, a fact borne out by the statistics: in 41 Tests prior to his recall, he scored seven hundreds and averaged 39.04; from his recall onwards, he played 64 Tests, scored 16 hundreds and averaged 49.22.

In the first seven Tests following his recall, the left-hander piled on five hundreds and two fifties, and over the following five-and-a-half years he combined with Hayden to form the most prolific pairing in Australian Test history.

As a partnership, the pair scored 6,081 runs at 51.53, with 14 century stands, while he also combined with Ponting for 3,451 runs with 14 century stands at the incredible average of 82.16 – the highest of any duo (min 2500 runs) since England immortals Sir Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe (1924-30).