Australia legend Langer delivers international rallying cry at World Cricket Connects event at Lord's

Former Australia cricket coach and opener Justin Langer has urged decision-makers to protect international cricket at all costs as the game’s calendar is squeezed ever more.

Despite coaching in the Indian Premier League, Langer has stressed the value of international cricket, which faces increasing pressure from the emergence of franchises. Langer was speaking at World Cricket Connects, an event at Lord’s hosted by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) designed for the leading voices in the game to discuss the health of cricket and consider the path required for its future success.

One of the topics on the agenda was the position of Test cricket in the sport’s landscape, with Langer insists that it must not be sacrificed.

He said: “I love domestic cricket, but I also love international cricket and we have to keep protecting that. International cricket brings the whole country alive or breaks the heart of a whole country. It’s like the football at the moment, with the Euros. If England win, the whole country celebrates. That doesn’t happen in clubs.

“Two things have happened in the last 12 months. This time last year, I was at the Totteridge Cricket Club. I was there with probably 50 kids; I was watching them play cricket. It happened to be when Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins had that amazing partnership at Edgbaston (in the Ashes).

“I was watching and inside the changing room, there were 50 nine-year-old kids in their whites playing T20 cricket outside, all watching the Test match. When the winning runs were hit, they were shattered, but for 20 minutes they sat and watched this extraordinary game. That is Test cricket.

“Then last summer I commentated for Channel 7 and the West Indies, no one would have bet they would beat that