England and Australia agree to pre-series handshakes

The England and Australia teams will shake hands on the outfield ahead of the Royal London One-Day series in attempt to restore the somewhat battered reputation of the sport.

With the image of the game - and the Australian game in particular - tarnished by events in South Africa earlier this year, the new Australia captain, Tim Paine, suggested the handshakes to his England counterpart, Eoin Morgan, at The Oval on Tuesday. Morgan readily accepted.

Paine hopes it will underline the changed image of the Australia team since events in South Africa. Not only were three Australia players suspended for their part in a ball-tampering episode during that tour, but there was an acceptance that some aspects of their behaviour had become unnecessarily aggressive and unattractive.

The pre-game handshakes were first seen ahead of the final Test of that sometimes acrimonious South Africa series and Paine would like to see them repeated before the first game of all series involving Australia in future.

"It's something we want to bring in to start a series, not before every game," Paine said. "It's just living our actions. We've spoken internally about our values as a team and how we want to be perceived by the Australian public and by the cricket public in general.

"But words are words. Come Wednesday, it's time for us to act on those words and show it by actions."

"I'm absolutely happy with that," Morgan said. "They are trying to turn around the image of the game in their country and we are all for that. We want cricket to be as popular as ever."

During the 2015 Ashes, the England captain - Alastair Cook - invited the Australia team for drinks in the dressing rooms at the end of the first Test; a custom usually reserved for the end of a series. The Australia team declined.