We are back with the best performances article and this time we have a good one in the former Australia head coach who in his time was a great left handed opening batter and who has scored tons of runs for Australia in Test cricket for a long period of time and was the member of the greatest test team in history which dominated the world in the 1990s and 2000s. He was an explosive opener who liked being aggressive and put the bowlers under pressure from ball 1.
A man who has played over 100 test matches and has scored over 7500 test runs must have played some really special innings because no ordinary player gets to play 100 test matches for their country and so I have the hard task of selecting the best 5 out of a laundry list of great innings by this great Aussie batter. So, without wasting any more time let’s get to it
250 vs England (2002)
A best batting Performances list for an Aussie batter would never be complete without at least one innings being played against England because they loved batting against their arch rivals and scoring lots of runs against them and Justin Langer does not break this tradition. This masterclass of an innings came in the year 2002 at the MCG and it was a good England bowling attack and he smashed them to all parts. As an England fan you can only Marvel at the greatness before you. He hit 30 fours which is 120 runs it in fours and 1 six with that as well. I did not get to watch this innings but it looks like he made the England Bowlers look very ordinary.
Also Read | Top 5 Best innings of Matthew Hayden
223 vs India (2000)
In the first of the batting performances I made fun of the English bowlers but this innings hurts a little bit because it came against India and this came after the Aussie Bowlers got India out for 150 and if that wasn’t enough torture for the Indian team , Justin Langer decided to make things worse by coming at number 3 and absolutely owning the match and dominating every bowler and in this innings as well he hit 30 fours so he is neutral in that aspect of hitting 30 fours against different opponents. He hit 223 in 355 balls which is a strike rate of more than 60. Indian bowlers must have been praying that he gets out and when he did the damage was done.
215 vs New Zealand
Even the good guys of cricket were not spared by Justin Langer as he was in a different level at that time and any opponent that came in his way got smashed and this time it was the turn of New Zealand to feel his wrath. The year was 2004 which means in every two years he plays an innings which is out of this world and in this match he was batting first and he opened and like his aggressive self he went after the bowling attack of New Zealand and this time he hit 25 fours and 3 sixes so 2 short of the magical 30 but 28 was good enough that day.
Also Read | Top 5 Best innings of Adam Gilchrist
191 vs Pakistan
The next victims of his assault were Pakistan and in 2004 they had one of the best bowling attacks in the world and yet Justin Langer made them look like club level Bowlers and this was one of the fastest innings he played and it was looking like he had a flight to catch that evening. He opened the batting and tore apart the whole bowling line-up and scored 18 fours and 3 sixes and this is an innings that all Pakistan fans will remember for a long time.
166 vs Sri Lanka
This is the only one out of the 5 that we have selected that was played in the second innings of Australia and it came at a crucial time when the match was in the balance and Justin Langer was the only one to make a respectable score in the second innings and even under such pressure he played aggressive cricket and in just 295 balls scored 166 runs and took the match away from Sri Lanka and gave Australia the win in a great test match. Hope we have done justice to one of the true greats of the game.
Also Read: Top 5 Best innings of Ricky Ponting
