Even before the start of the fourth and the final Test between Australian South Africa, the stand-in Australian skipper Tim Paine introduced everyone to the new era for Australian cricket. Agreeing to his suggestion, the Australian and South African players lined up to shook hands with each other before starting the final Test of what has been a controversial series at the Wanderers.

Appointed after former skipper Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were banned following the third Test ball-tampering scandal, Paine said, “I’ve been watching soccer. I noticed they do that every game and I thought, cricket’s a gentleman’s game. I spoke to our players about bringing it in. It’s not something we’ll do every Test match but I think it’s not a bad way to start a Test series. I think it’s just a good show of sportsmanship and respect.”

Also read: Tim Paine – Australia’s Crisis Man

Tim also acknowledged the fact that the relations between these two teams need to be improved, he said, “There’s been a lot of water gone under the bridge and a bit of tension between the two sides. We want to be super-competitive but we also want to respect the opposition and it was important to show that today.”

Paine revealed that he isn’t looking too far ahead in the current situation but also understands the fact that the repair work needs to be done for the damage done to the game by the events of the past week which had seen Smith, Warner, and Bancroft suspended over what has become dubbed ‘Sandpapergate’. He said that they would try to get back the respect of the cricket world and their fans.

There was a noticeable calm demeanor that marked Australia’s approach in the final Test. Describing the same, Paine said, “I still think it was competitive. There wasn’t too much verbal going back and forth between the sides. It still felt like a Test match. We still want to keep a really competitive brand of cricket but there’s got to be times where we’re more respectful of our opposition, of the game of cricket.”

Also read: Paine Accepts That Australians Struggling With The Enormity

Tim Paine concluded by stating that they are a different bunch of cricketers as compared to other Australian teams in the past. He said, “At times we’ve tended to push the boundaries as far as possible. We’ve seen that people probably don’t like that. It’s time for us to change. We’re a different group of players than Australia have had for a long time. We haven’t got too many guys that like to verbalize and have that really hard-nosed Australian approach. We want to create an environment where guys can just come in and play cricket and be themselves. If we can achieve that I think we can achieve better results as well. It is important for us to realize how lucky we are and how privileged we are to be playing cricket for Australia.”