Voges replaces Langer in the west

Former Test batsman Adam Voges has moved straight from playing into coaching, unveiled as Justin Langer's replacement as head coach in Western Australia.

As reported earlier this week, Voges was today confirmed as the new coach of Western Australia and Perth Scorchers in place of Langer, who has taken over from Darren Lehmann as coach of Australia.

Voges, who played 58 times for Australia including 20 Tests, only retired from playing in February after the Scorchers lost their BBL semi-final against Hobart.

The 38-year-old retired from first-class and one-day cricket last year and played one more season with the Scorchers before putting a final full stop on his playing career.

WACA CEO Christina Matthews said "it was the natural progression to appoint Adam after Justin left".

"As captain, Adam played a huge role in helping to develop the culture that has delivered us considerable success over the past few years," she said.

"Adam has an understanding of all the players and we know he works well with the current staff.

"Adam has a playing group that believe in his brand of leadership, players who have followed him for many years and look up to him as a trusted mentor and friend."

With six WA players centrally contracted by Cricket Australia for the coming 12 months, Voges said his focus would be in the next generation of cricketers in the west.

"We’ve had some terrific success in white ball cricket over the past few seasons and we’ve seen some great inclusions into the Australian team, but to keep our program strong we need to build depth in the next wave of WA cricketers," Voges said.

"The focus for this year is very much improving our red ball cricket and making sure we’re right up there in the Sheffield Shield."

Voges will always be remembered for his incredible Test batting average of 61.87, the second-highest of all time for players to have played 20 or more Tests.

The highly-respected and well-liked stalwart of the domestic game, Voges bowed out with more than 10,000 runs to his name for Western Australia over a 15-year-career.

And Langer says the relationship Voges formed with his teammates was almost unrivalled during his time in the game.

"He's really tough, physically and mentally, and they're good traits for elite cricket," Langer said when Voges announced his Shield retirement last year.

"But he's also very honest and that's a very important value, not just as a person but also in our organisation.

"And he also - the only other person I know who can do this is Adam Gilchrist - can be one of the boys but also a really strong leader. Not many people can do that.

"Not only do the players love him, but they respect him hugely."