‘We're going to England to win' – Tim Paine

After a particularly eventful period in Australian cricket, the limited-overs teams are finally going to get a chance to play cricket when they get to England for a series of five one-day internationals and one Twenty20 International in June.

The team will fly out on Monday 28 May, and play two 50-over tour games – on 7 June in Hove and 9 June at Lord’s – before the first ODI on 13 June at The Oval. And, though he wants the players to “live up to the standards that the Australian cricket team should”, Tim Paine expects them to be as competitive as they can be on the field.

“We're not going over there to make up or the numbers or be the nicest Australian cricket team ever to play against,” said Paine, who was named ODI captain, at least for the short term, to go with the leadership in the Test set-up. “We're going to be really competitive, at the same time we're going to be really respectful, but we're going there to win.”

That said, keeping in mind the events in South Africa and the subsequent developments, the conduct of the players will likely be under scrutiny, and Justin Langer admitted on Sunday that the Australians are “expecting to cop plenty from the crowds and the media”.

Paine said that Langer had spoken to the players about the values they should showcasing to the world. “Justin sat us down for a team meeting last week and spoke about the Australian cricket team's values, and what he expects,” he said. “It's nothing that's brand new, nothing the guys haven't heard before – it's purely about acting on what we know is the right thing to do and the right way to play our cricket.

“We've had Spirit of Cricket documents, we've had Code of Conduct documents, but at the end of the day, they mean nothing if you don't act on them and you don't live by them. That's been a huge focus for us, has been around our actions, our behaviours and making sure we live up to the standards that the Australian cricket team should.

“So, we've spoken about it, but getting on a plane tonight now, we get to go over there and talk through our actions, which the guys are looking forward to."

Paine also agreed with Langer that there will be a lot of focus on the Australians when they reach England. “We're probably going to get a bit more intense spotlight from their media when we first arrive,” he said.

“But we've spoken about the way we want to hold ourselves, the way we want to behave, and I'm sure once we get there and get into playing cricket, those sorts of things will die off into the background and cricket will be the number one focus.”