Langer, who resigned effective immediately, had been the subject of speculation regarding his future despite recently winning the Ashes 4-0 and Twenty20 World Cup for the first time .

Cricket Australia included Langer in a board meeting where they discussed a possible extension beyond his current contract, which was due to expire later this year.

READ MORE: Relatives of unknown soldiers willing to collect medals

After the meeting, Langer tendered his resignation instead of signing a contract extension, which was confirmed by his management, DSEG Worldwide, in a statement.

"DSEG confirms that our client Justin Langer has this morning tendered his resignation as coach of the Australian men's cricket team. The resignation follows a meeting with Cricket Australia [Friday night]. The resignation is effective immediately," they said.

Long-time teammate and former Brooks High student Ponting pointed to Langer and fellow Tasmanian Tim Paine as examples of CA's management style in his criticism.

"If you look back it has been a really poor six months on the whole in the way that Cricket Australia has handled some of the better people in the Australian cricket, Justin Langer and Tim Paine, and I think it's been almost embarrassing the way they have handled those two cases," Ponting said.

READ MORE: Cricket Tasmania sexual harassment case set for mediation

Cricket Australia thanked Langer for taking over the national side following the aftermath of the ball-tampering saga in Cape Town in 2018.

"He has restored the trust in the team and his legacy is assured," Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley said.

"We are naturally disappointed Justin has decided against continuing as coach but respect his decision and wish him all the best in the future.

"I would like to sincerely thank Justin and also his family for all that they have given to Australian cricket over the past four years, for which we remain eternally grateful."

Former Test player and current assistant coach Andrew McDonald will serve as head coach in the interim.

Ponting believed the resignation of the former Australian opening batter had been forced by a small group of Australian players.

"Reading the tea leaves it sounds like a few - and as he says to me a small group in the playing group and a couple of other staff around the team - haven't entirely loved the way he has gone about it," he said on ABC Radio.

"That's been enough to force a man who has put his life and heart and soul into Australian cricket and done a sensational job at turning around the culture and the way the Australian team has been looked at in the last few years to push him out of the job."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: