Newly appointed Australian skipper Tim Paine stated that for his side to reform as a national team they require not to act but to listen. Following the ball tampering scandal in the Cape Town Test, former captain and vice-captain Steve Smith and David Warner were suspended with immediate effect for a year. Meanwhile, the man to carry out the act, Cameron Bancroft was handed a 9 month suspension.
The incident generated a huge backlash. The outrage even came from as high as the Prime Minister to every fan on their social media handles. Cricket Australia meanwhile has planned to review the culture of the men’s team. The newly appointed skipper and the outgoing coach Darren Lehmann have also resigned to the fact that it’s time for Australia’s attitude to change.
When asked about what plans they have going forward, Paine said that he and Australia’s newly appointed coach will sit down and chalk down a blueprint on how to play in the immediate future. They will first listen to the Australian public as how the fans want their countrymen to behave on the cricket field.
“We’ve potentially had our head in the sand a little bit over the last 12 months (thinking) if we continue to win we can kind of act and behave how we like and the Australian public will be OK with that,” Paine said on Tuesday following Australia’s 492 runs defeat to South Africa in the 4th and the final Test and the New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.
“What we’ve probably found out in the past month or so is that the Australian public and our fans don’t necessarily like the way we go about it. It’s pretty simple. We have to listen. “We have to take it on board and we have to improve our behaviour in the way we play the game.
“I know the guys are certainly taking that on board and it’s something that we’re excited, again, to go forward and be able to do.” It was evident from the last Test at the Wanders. Gone was the Aussie side that sledged and kept chirping. There was a team who relied on their skills and ability. They were bound to leave their previous approach in the last Test in Cape Town.
Australia’s new direction might change the impact they had on the game but their attitude surely needs to change if ever so slightly. However, it depends on who Lehmann’s successor is. But Paine is confident of the fact that it won’t take for his side to stick to the new approach.
“I think it was probably evident in this match that we’d changed somewhat,” he said. “That will continue to happen. “We’ve obviously got a new coach coming in at some stage who would have huge say on how that is.
“But from my point of view, we’ve now got a fine line between being really respectful of opposition and the game and also being at a level that is really competitive as you should be in Test match cricket. It’s going to be a different style to what a lot of the guys have been used to, but I think we’ll find it pretty quickly.
“Once the new coach comes in and lays down the way he wants us to play as well, has his say on it, I think we’ll go for it straight away.” Faf du Plessis agreed the fact that they need to change the way they play which might be the first step n their right direction. South Africa is a perfect example of how to play tough yet respectful cricket.
“Obvious this Test match had a different feel to it, there was not as (much) competitiveness and other stuff as the other Test matches before it,” du Plessis said. It’s something we can only talk about in time, how it will change and what sort of things will happen, how it will happen.
“I don’t like to really comment on stuff not in my control. Their culture is something they’ve spoken about that they would like to change, and that’s good that they believe … if they’ve said it, it means it needs to change. Time will tell what sort of effect that will have on their dressing room.”
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