Australia Test skipper Tim Paine has said that his team are not concerned about being ‘liked’ by the opposition in response to the recent criticism by Michael Clarke.
Australia have been attempting to rebuild their image in the wake of the infamous ball-tampering scandal that occurred in Newlands earlier this year with coach Justin Langer and Paine at the forefront of the revolution.
Paine has started a trend of shaking hands with the opposition at the start of every series among other things as the national team aim to regain the lost trust of the Australian public.
Recently, former Australia skipper Clarke had criticised the team for trying to be ‘too nice’ and had instead asked them to focus on winning matches.
“Australian cricket, I think, needs to stop worrying about being liked and start worrying about being respected,” Clarke was quoted as saying by AFP.
“Play tough Australian cricket. Whether we like it or not, that’s in our blood.”
In response to Clarke’s statement, Paine has reaffirmed his team’s desire to win back the trust of the supporters.
Clarke feels Australia are trying too hard to be nice.
“No one has spoken about being liked, certainly by the opposition. We’ve spoken about wanting to get the Australian public’s trust and make sure that you want the Australian public and cricket fans to like or love the Australian Test team,” the Australia Test skipper told ESPNcricinfo.
“Certainly there’s that aspect, but from an opposition perspective we’re not concerned about being liked one bit.”
The wicketkeeper-batsman stressed that winning games remains the team’s motive even as he praised his side’s performance in the Test series defeat to Pakistan in the UAE.
“We’re still going to play hard Australian cricket, as Michael (Clarke) put it, that’s not going to change. Clearly Johannesburg was a really strange circumstance and a difficult game to play in for everyone I think, but going into Dubai the guys competed as hard as they could and they’ll continue to, and we’ve got some more senior guys coming back now,” he stated.
Paine and his men will now take on India in a four-Test series which gets underway at the Adelaide Oval on December 6. The Test series against the No1 ranked Indians is the first red-ball engagement on home soil for Australia since their ill-fated tour of South Africa in March this year.
