Australia ready for whatever England throw at them as they bid to rebuild after ‘sandpaper-gate’

The five-match one-day series against England begins at The Oval next week

Australia are ready to kickstart a new era in the wake of the ball tampering scandal (Getty)

If Australia needed another reminder of just how far reaching the ramifications of their cheating in South Africa were, it came on the morning of their arrival media conference at Lord’s in the form of the resignation of James Sutherland.

Cricket Australia’s chief executive was accused of indecision when his country’s biggest cricketing scandal broke in Cape Town back in March. The fall-out from Australia’s ball-tampering in the third Test at Newlands had already claimed notable scalps in captain Steve Smith, David Warner, his deputy, and coach Darren Lehmann.

Sutherland, who will stay on in the interim until a successor is found, followed on Wednesday morning after 17 years of running Australian cricket.

With a five-match one-day series against England starting at The Oval next week, Australia can expect plenty more reminders of ‘sandpaper-gate’ from crowds over the coming weeks.

It was perhaps inevitable that their first series since the ball-tampering affair would be in England.

Yet Justin Langer, the spiky former opener who is Lehmann’s successor as coach, and Tim Paine, who has taken over the captaincy from Smith, are both ready to embrace the abuse.

“We’ve spoken about this and we think it’s going to be pretty full on,” said Paine. “We expect that when we come to England all the time. This time we come with a bit more of a reason for them to do it. We’re looking forward to it to be honest. It just adds a bit of spice.

“We’ve got some guys here for the first time and to jump into the deep end will be a great learning experience for them. We expect it from the crowds everywhere we go now and it’s one of the challenges of international cricket.”

Paine spoke well about restoring the shattered reputation of Australian cricket. “There’s no doubt our reputation as a cricketing nation took a bit of a battering in South Africa,” he said. “For the players to come to terms with what happened and what we’d done was really difficult.

“Certainly coming to England now with a few new faces and coach and getting back into cricket is a great opportunity for us to move on and show the cricketing world where we have made some changes.”

Langer and Paine are ready to turn over a new leaf (Getty)

Yet people would be mistaken if they think this ‘new-look’ Australia won’t resort to sledging.

Langer says the now infamous ‘line’ has gone. Instead, there will be on-field intensity but this Australian side will not resort to outright abuse – a charge some of their predecessors were accused of.

Langer retold a tale about playing cards with his daughter to make his point. “It’s an interesting word, sledging,” he said. “In Australia it’s actually a good word. For example if I play Uno, the card game, with my daughter there’s lots of banter. We sort of sledge each other but we don’t abuse each other.

“And if I play golf with my mum and dad it’s the same. There’s a difference between banter and abuse and abuse is no good. There’s no room for it on the field but there’s plenty of room for banter or what we call sledging because it’s a fun part of the game. Abuse is not on, it’s as simple as that. There’s no line. It’s just not on.”

Paine added: “We want to be more respectful in the way we go about it. We don’t think we will change the way we play in a really competitive spirit.

“It’s the difference between abuse and banter. Certainly we’re not going to be silent on the field. We’re still coming here to win and we’ll be extremely competitive. We won’t be overly nice. We’ve still got to have that hard edge.

“I’m sure you’ll hear us talking through the stump mic but it’s up to me and Justin and the senior players to stay on the side of banter and never go to abuse. While I’m captain and Justin is coach abuse won’t be accepted.”

According to England’s players, Australian ‘banter’ definitely strayed into the realms of abuse during last winter’s Ashes – with Jonny Bairstow targeted in a very personal way.

Paine is ready to lead Australia into a new era (Getty)

“Certainly from both sides in that series and in South Africa there were times when it became very close to being abuse but that’s not what we’re about,” said Paine.

Asked if Australia’s new team ‘culture’ has been formalised in writing, Langer says: “We’re very clear what those values are and what our expectations of behaviour are. We can put all the fanciest mission statements and expectations on posters up on the wall but if you don’t live them they’re like toilet paper, mate. That’s the truth. “Yeah they’re written down but the words are irrelevant. It’s how we live them all the time that’s important.”

This inexperienced Australian one-day squad, missing the banned Smith and Warner as well as injured fast bowlers Josh Hazelwood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, appear to be on a hiding to nothing against an England side ranked No1 in the world.

Paine, though, believes his side can come out on top. ““Absolutely we can win this series,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for other guys to come in and fill the void.”

England, who thrashed Australia 4-1 at home in January, will have other ideas.