Justin Langer

Langer combined with Matthew Hayden at the top of the Australia order to form one of the most destructive opening partnerships in Test cricket.

The diminutive left-hander may be short in stature, but he more than makes up for it with a ruthless edge and determination to cement his place amongst the best in the world.

By the time he retired from Test cricket in 2007 he had scored 23 centuries in 105 games, at an average in excess of 45.

Langer is seen as a digger and a grafter but is also blessed with a range of attacking strokes that once saw former captain Steve Waugh label him the best batsman in the world.

However, at the start of his Test career he was in and out of the side and played only eight Tests in six years.

Langer celebrates another hundred © Getty Images

It was in 2000 that his star really began to rise and under the captaincy of Waugh and in combination with Hayden he tore apart some of the best bowling attacks in the world.

In 2001 he was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year and also boasts a black belt in Taekwondo.

He has had previous experience of playing in county cricket with Middlesex and joined Somerset midway through the 2006 season.

He had a prolific six-week stint with the Taunton club, including a triple-century in his only County Championship match.

His 100th Test was against South Africa in Johannesburg but he turned into a Makhaya Ntini bouncer before scoring a run.

He suffered a cut head and concussion and spent the rest of the game in the hotel or dressing room and considered quitting altogether, but the lure of regaining the Ashes proved too strong.

Langer helped Australia to win back the urn in 2006-07 and announced his retirement from international cricket after the final Test in Sydney.

He captained Somerset to the LV County Championship Division Two title in 2007, scoring 1,231 runs, and also topped the 1,000-run mark the following season.

Langer quit Australian domestic cricket at the end of their 2007-08 season, and during the 2009 English summer he surpassed Sir Donald Bradman's tally of 28,067 runs to become the leading Australian run-scorer in first-class cricket.

He announced later that season that it would be his last at Somerset, leaving the county with fond memories at the end of the 2009 season.