AUSSIES READY TO SHAKE IT UP
Era of respect starts today, says Paine
There may be football- type handshakes before today’s first one- day international but Australia will only be able to truly prove they have changed in the heat of the battle against england at The Oval.
Only time will tell whether skipper Tim Paine’s proposal, accepted yesterday by eoin Morgan, for a display of sportsmanship ahead of Australia’s first series since the Cape Town cheating scandal is merely a public relations stunt.
To be fair, a new Australian captain charged with restoring the pride of a disgraced sporting nation is aware his inexperienced side will be judged more on behaviour than their cricket.
‘We’ve talked about what’s acceptable from our team and what people are saying from outside doesn’t really matter,’ said Paine (below).
‘We know what’s right and what’s wrong. We’ll be judged on our actions moving forward. The handshakes are something we want to do ahead of every series. The opposition don’t have to do it.’
Morgan, who modelled england’s white-ball revolution on Brendon McCullum’s hard but fair New Zealand, was happy to oblige.
he said: ‘ It doesn’t bother me. They are trying to turn around the image of the game in their country and we are all for that.’
It certainly suited england for the spotlight to be shining on Australia because the home side are looking to bury their own bad news of defeat by Scotland on Sunday. england will resist the urge to change the bowling attack mauled in edinburgh, and instead will just bring the rested Jos Buttler back in place of Sam Billings. Morgan and coach Trevor Bayliss believe their whiteball success has been based on consistent selection so David Willey, Mark Wood and Liam Plunkett, all poor against the Scots, will keep their places ahead of Tom Curran and Jake Ball. Morgan is adamant there is no need to panic about losing to the 13th-ranked team in the world. he said: ‘ We will be better for the Scotland game. We have assessed where we went wrong and we will learn from it.’
Morgan is not blaming an attack that was restricted to five bowlers by the absence of Ben Stokes.
‘Not having Ben creates an imbalance and we were also without Chris Woakes who has been outstanding,’ said Morgan. ‘The other thing is that our spinners didn’t have a big impact. The nature of the ground didn’t allow it.’
england will protect their bowlers by turning down a request from Yorkshire for Plunkett and Willey to play in their royal London Cup game against essex tomorrow that falls between today’s game and Saturday’s second international in Cardiff.
england are more disappointed in a batting line-up that should have been capable of reaching Scotland’s 371 with ease on a perfect batting pitch, especially after Jonny Bairstow’s early runs.
however, Sunday’s upset does nothing to change england’s status as favourites against an Australian side lacking Steve Smith and David Warner, as well as the fast bowling trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh hazlewood.
Not that Morgan is expecting it to be easy. he said: ‘I expect a tough series but I really don’t know what to expect in terms of sledging and how Australia will play it. You can speculate as much as you like but the proof is in the actions.’
The eyes of the sporting world will be watching.