Paine: We will be hard, but fair

– Skipper Tim Paine vowed Australia will play “hard, but fair” against Pakistan as they embark on their first Test tour since a ball-tampering scandal and with fresh controversy raging following allegations by England’s Moeen Ali.

The squad jetted out late on Wednesday for their first Test series since the tour of South Africa early this year.

Australia have five uncapped players in their squad for a tour in which they plan to adopt a more respectful culture and move away from the win-atall-costs mentality.

“The Australian way has always been to play hard and fair and that’ll be no different this series,” Paine told reporters before departing for the United Emirates.

“There’s always a lot of eyes on the Australian cricket team wherever we play, so that will be no different, and this team is really clear on what’s expected and our standards, and we’ll uphold them.”

Further off-field problems emerged after Moeen said in his autobiography that an Australian player called him “Osama” during the 2015 Ashes.

Moeen, a practising Muslim, said he was on the receiving end of the slur, a reference to terror leader Osama bin Laden, from an unnamed opponent during his Ashes debut in Cardiff.

There are five debutants – Queensland trio Michael Neser, Brendan Doggett and South African-born Marnus Labuschagne, South Australia’s Travis Head and Victoria’s Aaron Finch.

Matt Renshaw, who was dumped ahead of the Ashes series late last year, is likely to open the batting along with Finch. –