Ahead of their ODI series which kicks off at The Oval on Thursday, Australia and England have agreed to a pre-series handshake. Australian Captain Tim Paine said he doesn’t want to do it in every game but only as a show of sportmanship before the series starts.
“We’ve spoke about all of this (culture change and player behaviour) over the last few months, and we are aware that words are only words,” Paine said.
“We’ll be judged on our actions going forward and it’ll be plain for everyone to see. We’ve spoken about our values and how we want to be perceived by the Australian public and the cricket public in general. But words are words and on Wednesday we have to show them in our actions.”
England Captain Morgan said he has no problem with ritual.
“They are trying to turn around the image of the game in their country and we are all for that. We want cricket to be as popular as ever. It’s important for the game to have a strong Australia side – we’re more than happy to shake hands if that creates a different image for people.” Morgan was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
