XtraTime Web Desk: Tim Paine, the Australia captain, said both victory and regaining the respect of the country were high priorities for the team as they take on India in a four-Test series.
The series, starting with the first Test in Adelaide on Thursday, 6 December, will be the first for the Australians at home since the ball-tampering scandal earlier this year led to bans for Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft.
The team, under Paine and coach Justin Langer, have promised to continue playing competitive cricket, while also being mindful of their responsibility to be role models.
“We play Test cricket to win, there is no doubt about that,” said Paine on Wednesday. “Clearly we’ve realised we needed to do some work in some areas, and gaining the respect of our country is as high a priority as is winning.”
Paine also confirmed that Marcus Harris will debut as opener in Adelaide, and Mitchell Marsh, who has been struggling for form, will miss out. However, he added that Marsh would likely feature later in the series.
“Mitch Marsh has probably not been as consistent as he would like and we would like,” said the captain. “We know the talent Mitch has, and we know that most likely at some stage in this series we’ll need him.
“We’ll take the opportunity at the moment to send him back to [play in the] Shield, get some more cricket under his belt, knowing at some stage we’re probably going to need him.”
He acknowledged that it would mean more responsibility on the pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, as well as spinner Nathan Lyon. “The quicks are going to have to bowl a bit more and we have full faith that Nathan Lyon can do a good job in any conditions,” he said.
“The [Adelaide Oval] wicket over the last few years here has given enough throughout the game. We’ve got a lot of confidence in Nathan Lyon bowling the overs we need and all three of our quicks are going in very fresh.”