"BEFORE Justin Langer made it official that the Sydney Test would be his last he had something else to do.
He sat down at the table in a room beneath the Bradman Stand at the SCG and carefully folded his baggy green cap so that the Australian crest was facing towards the cameras.
Then he faced them himself.
It would be fair to say that no Australian player has ever worn that quaint and rather outmoded bit of woollen headgear with more pride than Justin Langer.
Of the modern players, Steve Waugh would probably come closest. He wore his on the battlefields of Gallipoli and while watching Pat Rafter play at Wimbledon.
You get the feeling Langer keeps his on while he brushes his teeth and only takes it off when it comes time to kiss his wife and four daughters goodnight.
Certainly it has been through some scrapes with its owner over the course of 14 years and 104 Tests.
Like Waugh's, it comes to the end of its working life looking less like an article of clothing than a battlefield artefact, held together by dirt, tears and sweat.
Langer loves his baggy green like Linus loves his comfort rag in the Peanuts strip, and there was no way he was going to risk separation anxiety while he made the biggest announcement of his sporting career.
The cap also provided him with a convenient shield to hide the scraps of paper torn from an exercise book on which he had jotted down some of his thoughts, just so he wouldn't forget anyone.
Langer said he had been very emotional earlier in the day when he sat in the dressing room talking things over with his captain Ricky Ponting, vice captain Adam Gilchrist and his great friend and opening partner Matthew Hayden.
"There's no doubt the thing I'll miss most about cricket is what I'll experience hopefully tomorrow morning ... walking over the white line with some music and being lifted out to the centre from the crowd and walking out with my big mate Haydos," he said.
"We've formed a great partnership and, like Ricky and Tugga (Waugh), he's going to be a friend for life and it's going to be hard in five days' time not walking out with him in a Test match"
Unlike Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, who are also retiring after this match and who knew unequivocally that their time was up, Langer, 36, has found it a difficult decision to make.
"The reason it's been so hard is because I don't want to let it go, mate," he said.
"If you love something you don't want to let it go, do you? I don't want to not play for Australia again.
"I feel sad about it, but my heart's telling me it's the right thing to do."
Langer scoffed at people who believe cricket is just a game.
"Just a game? You know what, it's not just a game to me. It's been the vehicle for me and taught me how to handle success, how to handle criticism, how to handle failure, how to fight back from adversity.
"I've learned about mateship, I've learned about leadership. I've learnt so many things. I've hopefully forged a strong character and it's all because of the baggy green cap."
The travelling English journalists, inured to the cliches trotted out by their own players during this so far unhappy summer, were impressed by the sincerity and obvious depth of Langer's feelings, and found themselves applauding him after his statement.
"I'd like to hear an England player talk with such passion about what it means to play for their country, and the history of the game, and the men who have gone before them," veteran Daily Express writer Colin Bateman said.
"Perhaps that is part of the difference between the two sides."
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