Justin Langer, the cricket obsessive’s cricket obsessive, sat in the players’ dining room at Taunton and contemplated the end of his first-class career with excitement and trepidation. “After 18 years as a professional cricketer, it’s quite scary,” he mused. “My wife is worried but I know I can do something. I just need to work out what I’m passionate about.” Battling to avoid defeat by lowly Worcestershire was not a dignified way to leave the LV county championship, in which as captain he transformed Somerset, but it did confirm that now is the time to go.

“Since retiring from Tests [in 2007], I’ve found batting hard. I haven’t been as focused and it’s interesting that I’ve scored hundreds against Durham when Steve Harmison was playing and probably my best innings was against Andrew Flintoff at Lancashire. The hunger has been diminishing.

“It is the Somerset project that kept me going. Personally, it’s been a tough summer. It’s been tough for Somerset. My father has been in hospital for eight weeks and then there was the dossier thing. That really hurt. That cut me.”

It seems that he will return to Perth unrepentant but not unhappy to be going. Langer’s email — or “dossier” — to Tim Nielsen, the Australia coach, with his thoughts on England players, was gleefully dissected by the English media after it was leaked during the fourth Test. Langer subsequently spoke to several England players, including Andrew Strauss, and not once was the email mentioned negatively, but he did regret referring to James Anderson as a “pussy” (meek-looking) when the opposition got on top. In an attempt to smooth things over he texted Anderson but received no reply.

While he talks, England’s latest disaster in the one-day series unfolds on television. Is he surprised at how one-sided it has been? “A year ago, the England one-day team [which beat South Africa 4-0] was a good-looking side. It shows what happens if you take out Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen. I don’t know why but you chop and change a lot here, too.

“The Ashes is irrelevant to these one-dayers. The teams are different. I’m not disappointed Australia are winning but I’ve got a lot of time for Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower and they will be hurting. They’d have thought the Ashes was a great stepping stone.”

So after three seasons with Middlesex and four with Somerset, what would Langer’s dossier on county cricket say? “I’ve said the championship first division is as good a domestic competition as anywhere and I’d stick by that. But there is too much cricket. We are playing 11 days out of 12 at the moment. Try getting blokes up for that! I talk about the ‘Zombie syndrome’. It is survival. And I see it getting worse, not better.

“The wickets here are so flat. It’s demotivating, turning up at Taunton knowing how hard it will be to get a result. I told our committee we won’t win championships on these wickets. It is the same at a lot of counties. But I never thought I’d see a change in work ethic like I’ve seen at Somerset. It’s become very professional.”

Ironically, one way in which Langer believes counties have progressed is in the way they prepare. Dossiers form part of that. “Our assistant coach gives us a thick dossier on every opposition side and Worcestershire will have one on us. If they haven’t, they’re crazy. This happens every day in county cricket nowadays, let alone international cricket.

“I reckon this is what Worcestershire would have said about me today: ‘Try and swing it into him early because you might get him lbw. Put long-on back when the spinner comes on. Don’t get chirpy because if he gets grumpy he’s a lot harder to get out. He’s been hit on the helmet a few times so maybe try bowling a few bouncers . . .’ Everyone knows these things.” In fact, Langer was out for 46, stabbing a catch into a ring of off-side fielders.

“Basically, my email to Tim Nielsen was a warning not to get wound up,” he added. “We [Australia] are at our worst when we’re getting wound up ... I was probably one of 20 to give my thoughts on England. Thinking of ways to attack the opposition is our business.”

Langer, 38, may return to the English game, having received coaching offers from Somerset and Middlesex, among others. “Middlesex would be a great project but that’s not my priority. For the sake of my family I need to put down roots. I’m craving some stability.”

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