Justin Langer backs Steve Smith, David Warner for 2019 Cricket World Cup

Smith, Warner and Bancroft were all suspended by Cricket Australia for their involvement in the ball-tampering controversy in South Africa earlier this year. While Smith and Warner were given 12-month bans, Bancroft was suspended for nine months.

With all of their bans set to end before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, which begins on 30 May, Langer has made it clear they will be welcomed back into the team provided they are in form.

"If our environment's right and they're playing well, there's no reason they shouldn't be welcomed back in to help us win the World Cup and help us win the Ashes next summer," Langer told the podcast The Howie Games.

"If we can have an environment of great young leaders and welcome those guys back, we can be a real force and perhaps a team that's smiling a lot more than the team was before it happened."

Smith and Warner have been the mainstays in every Australian team since the last World Cup at home, and while their absence has opened up avenues for the next in line to stake their claims, their experience – they have played 214 one-day internationals between them and have more than 7,000 runs – is something Australia will miss.

"Steve Smith is one of the nicest people you will ever meet in your life. He's also a complete cricket tragic," Langer said.

"He's a ripping young bloke. And what a player. As committed to batting and being great as anyone you'll ever meet."

On Bancroft, with whom Langer has also worked at Western Australia, where he was head coach before taking up the Australia job after previous coach Darren Lehmann resigned, Langer said the 25-year-old was the heartbeat of Western Australia.

"Cameron is as elite a professional as anyone I've ever met," Langer said. "He was the heartbeat of Western Australia and from all accounts, [and] talking to Darren Lehmann, he was the heartbeat of the Australian team."

Langer was not short of praise for Warner either, calling him the "marathon man" of Australian cricket. "He'd played every single game of cricket. He'd play Test, One Day, T20, IPL, cricket all year round," Langer said. "He was being hailed as a great leader in that finally Australia was playing good T20."