New Australian Test and ODI skipper Tim Paine has clarified that the team will not stop the sledging on the field but it will be not in a disrespectful manner.
After the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal, which has shaken the Australian cricket hugely as skipper Steven Smith and vice-captain David Warner faced suspension (suspended for one year) along with Cameron Bancroft (suspended for nine-month), Australia will play their first international series against the hosts England where they will play 5 ODIs and only T20I, starting from June 13.
Before that series, Australia will play two List A tour matches on June 7 (against Sussex) and June 9 (against Middlesex). Before the warm-ups, Paine has clarified that they are not going to be silent on the field.
Paine said, “We want to be more respectful in the way we go about it. We don’t think we’re going to change the way we play in a really competitive spirit. Certainly, we’re not going to be silent out on the field, we’re going to be speaking…. But there’s got to be a respectful element to it. We know what’s right and we know what’s wrong.”
It will be also the first series for the Australian head coach Justin Langer, who replaced Darren Lehmann for that role as Lehmann stepped out from the coaching role after the end of the controversial Test series in South Africa.
Langer also supported Paine’s sledging theory as the former Australian opener said that they will not change their culture. While Langer commented on the sledging as a part of the game, he also mentioned that it is different from abuse which is not good enough.
Langer commented on that, “You’re going to hear us talking through the stump mic and see us talking on the ground. Even if we were so nice, everyone’s going to still think we’re a bunch of rough-head Australians. That’s just how it’s going to be.
“We’ll behave well on the field and off the field and we’ll still be called sledging Australians. It’s been happening for the last 30 years. Call it banter, sledging, whatever you want. Everyone talks about sledging, but there’s a difference between banter and abuse. And abuse is no good.
“There’s no room for abuse anywhere, but there’s plenty of room for banter, or what we call sledging. It’s a fun part of the game. It is actually part of the game.”
