ENG vs AUS 2018: In Australia Sledging's a Good Thing - Justin Langer

Ahead of the first series since the ball-tampering scandal, Australia’s new head coach, Justin Langer has insisted, “sledging’s a good thing”.

The reigning world champions are gearing up to take England since the turbulent series in South Africa.

The cricketing world was divided on how much sledging should be allowed on the field during the Australia-South Africa series. The series witnessed various players flouting not only the spirt of cricket but also the code of conduct.

David Warner, Quinton de Kock and Kagiso Rabada got charged for poor behaviour in an incident-filled series which culminated in Warner, Steven Smith and Cameron Bancroft receiving bans from the ICC and Cricket Australia for ball tampering.

In their recent meeting, the governing body voted in favour of raising the sanctions associated with ball-tampering and having penalties for “personal, insulting, offensive or orchestrated abuse”.

However, Langer said, as far as he was concerned, sledging was just another word for banter.

“In Australia, sledging’s a good thing: if I play Uno (a card game) with my daughter we sledge each other,” Langer told a news conference at Lord’s on Wednesday.

“If I play golf with my parents, we sledge each other. There’s a difference between banter and abuse. There’s no room for abuse anywhere,” he added.

Langer further said Australians would be called ‘sledging Australians’ even if they refrain from it.

“Even if we were so nice people would think we’re a bunch of hard-edged Australians. We’ll still be called sledging Australians; it’s been happening for the last 30 years. So we’ll cope with that,” he reckoned.

Tim Paine, the new ODI skipper, will have a big responsibility in ensuring his troop does not cross the line. Speaking about sledging, he said:

“The thing we’ve spoken about is the difference between abuse and banter. We won’t be silent. We’re going to be speaking, trying to put pressure on teams as we usually do. But we have to be respectful.”

“I’m sure you’re going to hear us talking through the stump mic. But it’s up to me, Justin and the senior players to stay on the side of banter and never go to abuse. “There’s no doubt our reputation took a bit of a battering (in South Africa).

“Coming to England now with new faces, a new coach, just getting back into cricket is an opportunity for us to move on and show we’ve made a few changes,” he added.

The series gets underway at The Oval on June 13.