Justin Langer: There’s a difference between banter and abuse

With the five-match ODI series against England starting at The Oval next Wednesday, Langer and captain Tim Paine have reiterated a desire to be competitive but respectful as Australia look to repair their tarnished image

Australia head coach Justin Langer says there’s plenty of room for sledging in cricket as long as it doesn’t cross a line into abuse. 

With the five-match ODI series against England starting at The Oval next Wednesday, Langer and captain Tim Paine have reiterated a desire to be competitive but respectful as Australia look to repair their tarnished image.

"We want to be more respectful but we don’t think we’re going to change the way we play, in a really competitive spirit”, said Paine.

"We’re not going to be silent out in the field, we’re going to try and put pressure on opposition teams and players but there has to be a respectful element. “ 

"I’m sure you’re going to hear us talking through the stump mic but it’s up to me and Justin and our senior players to make sure we stay on the side of banter and not abuse. While I’m captain and Justin is coach, that’s not going to be accepted.”

"We’re still going to be extremely competitive. We won’t be overly nice, we’ve still go to have that competitive edge and we are here to win.

"We’re about banter and making our opposition uncomfortable, or making them feel our presence, but the abuse is no longer the way we go about it."

^{"Abuse is no longer the way we go about it"}

"There’s no doubt our reputation as a cricketing nation took a battering from South Africa. It was difficult for the players to come to terms with, with what happened and what we’d done. Coming to England, having a few new faces, a new coach and just getting back into cricket is a great opportunity for us to move on and show the cricketing world we have made some changes." 

The message from captain and coach is much the same with Langer saying Australia must learn from those previous mistakes.

"We always talk learning from the past. As long as we learn from what happened and move forward, that’s all we can do", said the former Test opener.

"Culture is the buzz word at the moment. I remember Jonny Wilkinson getting interviewed by Michael Parkinson, who asked him what made him such a great player. He said, without blinking, the changing room that he walked into. We’ve got to create the environment where it’s a great changing room where expectations are high. If we have good behavior then we have a good culture and environment for all our young blokes to thrive and become good players and people.

"We are really clear what our values and expectations are. The truth is, we can put all the fanciest mission statements and values up on the wall, but if you don’t live them, they are like toilet paper. The words are irrelevant, it’s how we live them that’s important."

Meanwhile the conversation over where ‘the line’ is appears to have matured into one deciding what constitutes ‘sledging’ and what constitutes ‘abuse’. 

"In Australia sledging is actually a good word”, Langer states. "If I play Uno with my daughter, there’s lots of banter, we sort of sledge each other. And if I play golf with my mum and dad we sledge each other… call it sledging or banter or whatever you want. There’s a difference between banter and abuse. Abuse is no good. It doesn’t matter if you’re off the field or on the field, there’s no room for abuse. There’s plenty of room for banter or what we call sledging, it’s a fun part of the game."

^{"There’s plenty of room for banter or what we call sledging"}

The captain is under no illusion that the English crowd will give his team an easy ride, but says the players are looking forward to the added edge.

"We think it’s going to be pretty full on. We expect that when we come to England, we cop a little bit of a ribbing. This time we come probably with a bit more reason for them to do it.

"We are looking forward to it to be honest, it’s about coming over here and enjoying playing cricket in England which is exciting for all of us, and that just adds a little bit of extra spice."

Away from player conduct, Langer says the absence of Steve Smith and David Warner will help create good competition within the squad ahead of next year’s World Cup.

"If we want to come here and win the World Cup next year we’re going to have to have good depth and good competition. It opens up some opportunities and that’s what we’re selling our players on. This is a good chance for us to build a team and hopefully if those guys come back into the team, the competition for places is going to be really tough."

Eoin Morgan’s men may be the world’s No.1 ODI team but Paine sees no reason Australia cannot have success, despite the additional absence of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. 

"From a bowling sense not having our big three is a really great opportunity for some guys who are a probably little bit better than what people around the world know. They’ve got some good skills and good pace and we come here with some real confidence that we can win this. We know the task ahead of us is enormous. England have been playing some quality one-day cricket for a period of time, it will be a great test."