Australia coach Justin Langer grateful for break in international calendar: "It gives them a really good opportunity to recharge"

The former opener had previously expressed concerns over the physical wellbeing of his players, who will now have some downtime due to the coronavirus pandemic

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Justin Langer, the Australia coach, is thankful for the break in the international schedule which has been imposed on global cricket due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

The sport has been ceased for the foreseeable future amid the crisis with no return date in sight.

Among the tours and competitions that were affected was Australia's one-day international series against New Zealand, which was postponed after one match.

Langer stated before the three ODIs that he was concerned over the physical wellbeing of his squad, who have endured a gruelling schedule.

Across six months the Baggy Green played five Tests, eight one-day internationals and seven T20s against Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, South Africa and the Kiwis. Players were also released to participate in the Big Bash League.

And while the spread of COVID-19 is showing few signs of letting up, Langer is grateful that his players have the opportunity to rest amid familiar surroundings.

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Australia's final outing for the foreseeable future came behind closed doors against New Zealand in Sydney

"The truth for me personally, and for a lot of the players, is this is like nirvana in the fact we're home with our families," Langer told the media.

"We're sleeping in our own bed, we eat home-cooked dinners, and we can still work - in one degree or another - from home.

"We identified in South Africa [over the winter] that a number of our players were physically and mentally exhausted.

"We had all winter with the World Cup and the Ashes and then into our summer. The boys were playing before that as well so some of them came from the Indian Premier League and straight into the World Cup.

"It gives them a really good opportunity to recharge and we're obviously looking at scenarios moving forward to make sure we're ready for whatever comes up.

"We know that we can't sit on our hands, we don't know how long this is going to last for and we will have to be ready and organised."

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