Summary Justin Langer said that, as far as he was concerned, sledging was just another word for banter.
LONDON (AFP) - Australia coach Justin Langer insisted "sledging s a good thing" as the team prepared to face England in their first series since March s dramatic ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.
Langer, however, stressed that "banter" would not be allowed to descend into "abuse", as captain Tim Paine promised Australia "won t be silent" during a five-match one-day international series.
Former Australia captain Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner were banned for a year for their part in the ball-tampering incident during the third Test in Cape Town.
Meanwhile batsman Cameron Bancroft -- who applied sandpaper to the ball in a clear breach of cricket s rulebook -- was given a nine-month ban by Cricket Australia.
The trio were all sent home in disgrace, with wicket-keeper Paine taking over as captain in South Africa.
Darren Lehmann then resigned as coach and was replaced by Langer.
After the ball-tampering scandal, there were concerns that sledging or verbal taunts had contributed to a toxic atmosphere between the Australia and South Africa teams.
But Langer said that, 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,"the former Australia opener, who played at Lord s for Middlesex, added.
"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."
Paine, alongside Langer at Lord s, explained: "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."
Paine added: "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."
Australia, who are in England without injured frontline strike bowlers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, as well as Smith and Warner, start their tour with a warm-up match against a Sussex side coached by former Australia fast bowler Jason Gillespie in Hove on Thursday.
Ricky Ponting, the former Australia captain, will join Langer s backroom staff next week but the coach said it was ultimately down to the players to make good on the team s new code of conduct.
"We have our values and our expectations, that s really important," said the 47-year-old Langer.
"But I ve said this for 25 years, we can have the fanciest mission statements, but if you don t live them, they re like toilet paper mate. They are written down, but unless you live them they re meaningless."
He added: "We ve just got to create the environment where it s a great changing room.
"All culture is behaviour. Make it good on and off the field. If we ve got good behaviours, then we ve got a good environment."
Australia, the World Cup champions, begin their series with 2019 hosts England, currently the top-ranked ODI side, at The Oval on June 13.
