Australia must 'enjoy' jibes from Oval crowd, says Paine

Spectators at The Oval are unlikely to let Australia's visit pass without mention of the ball-tampering scandal, Tim Paine acknowledges.

Published : Jun 13, 2018 14:04 IST

Tim Paine has told his Australia team-mates to accept and "enjoy" any mockery from the England crowd in the aftermath of the ball-tampering scandal.

The Newlands fiasco rocked Australian cricket earlier this year, with Paine now captain under a new head coach as three players - Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft - serve bans.

Coach Justin Langer has called on the team to be "number one" in professionalism, honesty and humility, and that will begin with handshakes between the sides as Australia begin a one-day international series against England.

But playing for the first time since the damaging Test series in South Africa, skipper Paine is aware that Australia may not get the same respect from spectators. "It's something we're expecting from the crowd. We've got to take it on board and enjoy where possible," he said ahead of Wednesday's opener. "It's nothing we can control.

"We have spoken about what is acceptable from our team and what people are saying from the outside doesn't really matter. Internally, we know what is right and what is wrong and that's what counts. We know how we want to be perceived by the Australian public and cricket public in general.

"We will be judged solely on our actions."

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