Langer to take temporary charge of Australia T20 team

Former opening batsman Justin Langer will take control of Australia's Twenty20 team for a second time, on a temporary basis, in February.

Langer will run the T20 side for three games against Sri Lanka while head coach Darren Lehmann is in India preparing for a four-match Test series.

The 46-year-old did a similar temporary job for a triangular one-day tournament in the West Indies earlier this year while Lehmann was taking a break.

"I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of working with the national side in the Caribbean ... so I am excited and very grateful to get this opportunity to do it again," Langer said in a Cricket Australia statement.

"The advantage myself and the players will have is that the series will come just over two weeks after the ... Big Bash League wraps up so we should all still be in Twenty20 mode.

"And with several senior players set to be in India ahead of the test series, it really will give players an added incentive to perform."

The three-match T20 series begins on February 17 in Melbourne, with a game in Geelong on February 19 before the final fixture in Adelaide on February 22.

Australia's first Test against India in Pune begins on February 23.

Image: Justin Langer

Photograph: Philip Brown/Reuters