Ex-partners Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden set to cross swords

Abu Dhabi, November 7

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Australian coach Justin Langer and his great friend Matthew Hayden, who forged one of cricket’s best opening partnerships, will be in opposing camps in the likely semifinal clash between Australia and Pakistan. Hayden is currently the batting coach of Pakistan.

Pakistan have been the dominant team of the tournament and they are likely to finish Group 2 winners, for their win over minnows Scotland in their last Group 2 match is a foregone conclusion. This will set them up against Australia in the semifinals.

“We’ve been back and forth messaging throughout the tournament. He’s (Hayden) really enjoying (coaching Pakistan’s batters). No insights though, we’ve been keeping business to business,” Langer said. “It’s going to be good to see him because I haven’t seen him for a long time. There’s lots of relationships in cricket, but when it comes to Thursday night, we’ll put our friendships down for three hours and we’ll get down to business so it should be good fun.”

Langer and Hayden opened the batting together in 113 Test innings, adding 5,655 runs at an average 51.88 during a dominant era of Australian cricket.

Langer also hailed explosive opener David Warner’s work ethic and hunger for runs, saying he was never in doubt about his ability to come good in the tournament. — Agencies