In a freewheeling interview with Brian Viner of The Independent, Justin Langer talks about his love for the game's history, life after retirement, what England could do to regain the Ashes, and also has time to talk about Ricky Ponting's oratory skills.
Speaking of lessons, what can England learn from Australia, not as winners but as losers? Can the 2006-07 Ashes series generate English renewal as the 2005 series did for Australia? "Mate, it depends how badly it hurt. I remember 12 September 2005, very clearly, sitting up there on the balcony at The Oval, next to Haydos [Mathew Hayden], Gilly [Adam Gilchrist], McGrath, and Punter [Ricky Ponting], watching those streamers everywhere, and Vaughan jumping around with champagne. That's when a little piece of kindling was lit.
"We got on the plane and that's when we started talking: where we went wrong, how we could do better, how we could get our disciplines back. There's a book by Scott Peck called The Road Less Travelled. During Steve Waugh's tenure that was our theme: do things a little bit different, things other teams wouldn't do. In 2005 we lost sight of that a little bit.