Handshakes all round before Test

IN A strange turn of events cricket – the so-called gentleman’s game – took a leaf from football – more commonly known for diving and being okay with cheating – to reinforce some decency at the end of what’s been an acrimonious series between South Africa and Australia.

Tim Paine, the Australian captain, admitted to watching some international football on television in the last few weeks and seeing the players shake hands after the anthems, set off a lightbulb in his head.

He approached South Africa’s skipper Faf du Plessis before play yesterday and relayed his idea, which Du Plessis was happy to accept.

So after both anthems were completed yesterday morning, players from the two teams shook hands, Morné Morkel, playing in his final match for his country, doing so carefully as he balanced his young son Arias on his other arm.

“There’s been a bit of tension between the two sides,” said Paine. “We want to be super competitive but we also want to be really respectful of our opponents. It was important we showed that today; it’s something we want to take forward and that’s the way we want to start a Test series. Faf thought it was a good idea and maybe other sides, including South Africa, may start using it as well.”

Aftermath

It was the turning of a new leaf for Australian cricket – symbolically at least – in the immediate aftermath of a turbulent week for the sport worldwide but particularly in that country.

Cricket Australia say they want to change the culture of the national team, making it less boorish.

“We are taking it one day at a time and slowly trying to build back the respect of the cricket world, our fans and the Australian public. We have a really long journey to get to where we want to go, but we think the last couple of days have been the start of that long journey,” said Paine.

“There’s times we have to be more respectful of our opposition and more respectful of the game of cricket; at times we have tended to push the boundaries as far as we possibly could,” said Paine.

“I think we’ve seen that people probably don’t like that. It’s time for us to change. We are happy to do that, I think it probably suits this group of players – we are a different group of players than Australia have had for a long time. We haven’t got too many guys who like to verbalise … that really hard-nosed Australian approach.

“We are about creating an environment where guys can come in and play cricket and be themselves. If we can achieve that, guys will achieve better results.”