Langer confronted Paine in raw Headingley debrief

SYDNEY: Australia’s Test captain Tim Paine was called to account by coach Justin Langer for his leadership mistakes during the frenzied final hour of the Headingley Test in front of the rest of the team, and the footage will be aired as part of a deep dive documentary on the national side’s 16 months after the Newlands scandal.

Paine, who is also shown delivering a blunt but rousing message to the team in the dressing room in the minutes after the one-wicket loss to England that threatened to derail their bid to retain the Ashes, is challenged by his close ally Langer about the singles made available to Ben Stokes in Leeds.

Langer and team analyst Dene Hills had forced the touring squad to review footage of the dramatic defeat the morning after it as a way of ensuring it would not be allowed to fester as an issue, something the coach has previously attributed to advice from the former Adelaide Crows AFL coach Don Pyke, who had admitted he waited too long to debrief his side after the 2017 Grand Final loss to Richmond.

The decision to do so and the confrontation between Langer and Paine is one of numerous raw moments captured by the documentary series, The Test.

It chronicles the long road from the Newlands scandal to the retention of the Ashes at Old Trafford last September, but is never more revealing than when Paine first speaks to a stunned and silent dressing room in the minutes after Stokes has delivered England their miracle. “I’ll go and do media now boys, but I just want to say f*** that’s going to f***en hurt a lot, no doubt,” Paine had said to his players in the dressing room.