From heartbroken to heartbreaker, Langer faces tough selection call
Justin Langer knows better than most the disappointment of being an Ashes tourist who does not play.
In 2001, a despondent Langer had feared his time in the baggy green was over after failing twice in a tour game that was effectively a selection trial for the fifth Test.
Langer had lost his place in the side to West Australian teammate Damien Martyn at the start of the tour after a lean campaign in the epic series in India.
He fell further down the pecking order when Simon Katich replaced an injured Steve Waugh in the fourth Test but, in a shock move, came in for Michael Slater at The Oval. The rest, as they say, is history: Langer scored a ton and became a fixture of the side through to his retirement in 2007.
Now as a selector himself, Langer will have to break the news to at least one his "sons", as he affectionately likes to call his charges, that they will not be lining up in the fourth Test.
What's known is that one of the top six will make way for Steve Smith, while the pace attack will not be finalised until after an inspection of the Old Trafford wicket during the team's first training session.
The early indications were that either Usman Khawaja or Marcus Harris will miss out, though Matthew Wade is not out of the woods either. Mitchell Marsh, however, may rue not converting his 74 in the tour match against Derbyshire into a ton.
"You have to be so sensitive with these things. There's 17 guys who deserve to play and 11 spots in the team. The six who miss out, and I know from bitter experience, it's a really tough place to be," Langer said.
"We've got to be sensitive and respect those guys and have some empathy for those guys whilst building up the 11 guys in the side.
"I keep saying it. Selection is a really tough thing because you can probably get it down to 13 or 12 into 11 but you have to pick 11 blokes – that's part of the job."
Fellow selector Trevor Hohns had stated his concerns over an imbalance of left-handers over right-handers in the top six, though Langer took an alternative view. He was a southpaw himself.
Left- or right-handed, whoever gets the nod to play in one of Australia's most important Tests in recent memory will have to adapt, Langer said.
"If it was five right-handed batters and one left-hander, no one would even be talking about it," Langer said.
"That's another silly, nonsensical theory of cricket, isn't it?"
It appears to be a three-way battle for the third pace spot, with Peter Siddle and Mitchell Starc both eyeing off James Pattinson's position.
Given his injury record, Pattinson is likely to play in only one of the back-to-back Tests. The decision may be as simple as whether they believe he is better suited to play here or at The Oval.
"We'll have a look at Old Trafford. I can't imagine there's going to be too much grass on it. I'll be surprised if there's any grass on it actually, but there might be," Langer said.
"The conditions in the first three Tests have been very dry, which has half-surprised us, and you've seen the way the wicket's have been, a bit up and down. There's been certainly some seam movement with the Dukes ball, a little bit of spin, probably more than we were expecting, maybe not so much last Test.
"Whatever three we select, we're going to have a very good bowling attack."