Langer entrusted with Australia T20I selection powers

Melbourne, July 27 - Australia's new head coach Justin Langer have been entrusted with the additional responsibility of being the main Twenty20 International selector as part of changes announced by Cricket Australia on Friday.

Langer will join Greg Chappell and Trevor Hohns on the full-time selection panel with Mark Waugh, who resigned in May, not being replaced, according to a CA release.

Earlier, Waugh led a two-man panel with former coach Darren Lehmann to pick Australia's teams for T20 internationals.

The structure for Test and ODI selection effectively remained the same, with Langer filling Lehmann's role alongside selection chairman Hohns and national talent manager Chappell.

"Having a selector focus on the T20 format for the past 18 months was viewed as a success ... and we will look to continue this in a slightly modified way," CA's team performance manager Pat Howard said.

"This sees Justin take on additional responsibility as both the Head Coach and lead selector in Twenty20 cricket, as we build towards the ICC World T20 in Australia in 2020.

The selection panel's next task will be to decide on Australia's Test squad for their October series against Pakistan.

IANS