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'Physically sick': Langer reveals Headingley torment

Australia's head coach has revelled in his toughest week as head coach, and says signs are there that his squad has reset for Old Trafford

On the first Sunday to follow the miracle of Headingley, Justin Langer revealed the torment he endured as Australia's long-held and meticulously planned dream of winning the Ashes in the UK was within grasp before being so brutally snatched away.

Langer explained how he felt physically ill when England hero Ben Stokes flayed the winning boundary, and was subsequently unsure whether to break down bawling or fly into a rage upon returning to the team's hotel in Leeds.

But with the passage of a week, and the reassurance he gained from the manner in which his squad approached their three-day tour game against Derbyshire, the men's team coach finds himself in a far more tranquil place.

And while he rates that seven-day stretch as the most challenging of his decade-long coaching career – within the national team, and at Western Australia and Perth Scorchers – he has ultimately been uplifted rather than daunted by the demands that week has presented.

"As challenging as this week's been, it's been awesome," Langer said in Manchester, where the fourth Ashes Test begins at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

"I've loved this last week of coaching, because you can either sit back and feel sorry for yourself and put it under the carpet, or you can work out ways to make sure we're up for the first ball (on Wednesday) and then the next Test match."

For Langer, the major obstacle to regaining his famously philosophical frame of mind lay in the narrowness of the defeat that had, for so much of that memorable Sunday at Headingley, loomed as a likely win.

As Langer sat powerless and penned in the visitors' dressing room while Stokes splashed lurid colour all over history's canvas, his mind turned to the investment made in reversing Australia's run of four consecutive Ashes series defeats in the UK.

Stunning Stokes plays innings of his life … again

That stemmed from the time when, in the aftermath of another failed campaign in 2015, the Dukes-brand ball was introduced to the Sheffield Shield competition, and extended to the regular dispatch of Australia A and development teams to hone their skills on English pitches.

It also included the careful management of precious fast bowler stocks to ensure a full complement was available for the 2019 tilt, as well as the unprecedented gathering of 25 possible Ashes tourists in Southampton for a practice game in mid-July that would decide the final playing party.

As part of the most recent Australia outfit to secure an Ashes series win away from home (in 2001), and as an Australia cricket insider in his various coaching roles since retiring as a player in 2009, Langer was acutely aware of the work put into winning this year.

And to be a number eleven batter's wicket away from ensuring the urn was retained, only for England to find more runs for the 10th wicket than any pair has managed in the fourth innings across 142 years' worth of Ashes Tests was difficult to stomach.

"That's the toughest part of it, we were that close," Langer said, holding up his left thumb and index finger a hair's breadth apart.

"I actually felt physically sick after it, then I went back to my room and I wasn't sure whether to cry my eyes out or smash my hotel room.

"For most people it's just a game of cricket, but when so much goes into it, it means a lot.

"You do take it personally because I know how much work's going into it.

"You never like to let opportunities slip in your life.

"But that's okay, we'll make sure we learn from it.

"We'll learn a lot of lessons from that, short-term and long-term, and hopefully we can do it better next time."

The proof upon which Langer's certainty about his team being "better next time" stems from what he saw when they first took the field in the aftermath of the Leeds loss.

It might only have been a three-day tour game against division two county championship battlers Derbyshire, but the coach recognised an immediate hunger to atone for Headingley.

Steve Waugh, the ex-Test skipper who returns to his role as men's team mentor for the final two Tests at Old Trafford and The Oval, had previously spoken to the group about the ruthlessness of the hugely successful sides of which he was part.

And Langer echoed those words prior to last week's game against Derbyshire, which Australia won by an innings and 54 runs with two sessions to spare.

"Before the toss (at Derby) we said 'it's not a practice game, it's not a centre-wicket hit out, we're going to play a proper game of cricket'," Langer said on Sunday.

"We're going to try and win the game, no matter what.

"The way our guys won the game in two-and-a-bit days was a guide to me that they're up – they were all together, they trained together.

"Sometimes it can become a bit fractured.

"It's not going to be fractured here for the next few weeks."

Hazlewood wants to carry momentum to Manchester

Langer well knows the deleterious impact of a fissured touring party when a prize as coveted as the Ashes is on the line.

While there exist many parallels with the fabled 2005 Ashes series in the UK – Australia's thumping first Test win, the injury to a key player, England snatching a last-gasp win to level the series and ignite public support – Langer is certain the disharmony within the touring party that plagued the back end of that campaign won't re-appear in 2019.

It's why he insisted that the entire squad remain intact during the Derbyshire tour game, and resisted the temptation to grant a few of the over-worked members a few days' break to take time away from the circuit.

The pain of that 2005 series loss, which triggered the sequence of Australia Ashes defeats on England's home turf that remains unbroken, burns deep within Langer.

Whenever he is reminded of what is regarded as the most compelling Ashes contest of recent times, he grits his teeth as he points out that he came out of that on the losing side.

With the current campaign shaping as a legitimate rival for title of 'greatest Ashes of the modern era', Langer sees a beckoning opportunity to overwrite, if not re-write, an historical wrong.

"Often it seems like history is repeating itself, but the beauty of the future is you've got a chance to have a different outcome," he said when asked if he heard echoes of 2005 in the contemporary contest.

"It's always been a philosophy and theme of my coaching, that we've got to do things together as much as we possibly can.

"It might be right, it might be wrong, that's just a strong belief I have.

"Everyone was in Nottingham (where the team stayed for the duration of the Derbyshire game).

"They were all together, and we'll stick together.

"There's only a few more weeks of this tour.

"It's been a long hard tour, but we'll stick together as much as we can and hopefully it'll give us the right outcome."

2019 Qantas Ashes Tour of England

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c), Cameron Bancroft, Pat Cummins, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner.

England squad: Joe Root (c), Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, Craig Overton, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes (vc), Chris Woakes.

First Test: Australia won by 251 runs at Edgbaston

Second Test: Match drawn at Lord's

Third Test: England won by one wicket at Headingley

Tour match: Australians v Derbyshire, August 29-31

Fourth Test: September 4-8, Old Trafford

Fifth Test: September 12-16, The Oval