Paine wants Aussies to be respectful but competitive in England

Brisbane, May 28: As Australia embark on their England tour — the first after the ball tampering fiasco, new skipper Tim Paine on Monday urged his teammates to be “really respectful” while also maintaining their intensity on the field.

The Australian ODI squad will depart later on Monday for next month’s five-match series against England. It will be the Kangaroos’ first series after the Cape Town ball tampering scandal that saw former leaders Steve Smith and David Warner, along with culprit Cameron Bancroft, heavily suspended.

Paine, who took over the reigns of the national side in the aftermath of the scandal, along with new coach Justin Langer have spoken during Australia’s pre-tour camp here about the team’s need to uphold a strict behavioural standard.

“The thing Justin said the other day is we want the Australian cricket team to be heroes of young kids in Australia,” Paine told reporters, according to cricket.com.au.

“We’ve had spirit of cricket documents, code of conduct documents, but at the end of the day they mean nothing if you don’t act on them and don’t live by them.

“We’re not going over there to make up the numbers or to be the nicest Australian cricket team to ever play against. We’re going there to win. We’re going to be really competitive, at the same time we’re going to be really respectful, but we’re going there to win,” he added.

The series against England looms as a tough task for Australia, whose form has been patchy in the ODI arena in recent times. With Smith and Warner absent, spots have opened up in Australia’s batting order just 12 months out from next year’s World Cup. IANS