Tim Paine's grand gesture in first act as Australian cricket captain

Johannesburg: Tim Paine has made a statement of intent with his first act as Australia's full-time captain by arranging for his players to shake hands with the South Africans before play in the fourth Test as a sign of goodwill after a bitterly fought series that has left long-lasting damage.

Steve Smith's successor drew praise from South Africa's centurion Aiden Markram for the gesture at the Wanderers, which emphasised Australia's plan to temper the aggression with which they had played before they were forced into painful introspection by the ball-tampering crisis.

Paine said he had come up with the idea of having players shake hands with everyone from the other team, a practice usually reserved for the end of matches in cricket, when he was watching football on South African television.

“I’ve been watching [sports channel] SuperSport this week and they’ve had the soccer on and I notice they do that every game and I thought cricket is the gentleman’s game," he said.

"I spoke to our players about how it was something I wanted to bring in. It’s not something we are going to do every Test match but I think it is not a bad way to start a Test series.

"I think it’s something that we will use going forward. I just think it’s a good show of sportsmanship and respect."

The series between Australia and South Africa had been one of the ugliest on record even before things went off the cliff least week, leading to the exile of Steve Smith and David Warner for a year and Cameron Bancroft for nine months, and then the resignation of coach Darren Lehmann.

While their rivalry has been anything but friendly over the past month, the Proteas have been left stunned by the downfall of the three Australians and their captain, Faf du Plessis, was happy to take up Paine's conciliatory offer.

"I waited for Faf to come out today and spoke to him and he was happy to do that," Paine said.

"I think he thought it was a good idea and who knows, maybe other sides and South Africa may start to use it as well.

“In this series there has been a lot of water under the bridge and a bit of tension between the two sides. We want to be super competitive but we also want to be respectful of our opposition, so it was important we showed that today. It’s something we want to take forward and if other teams want to do it we’ll do it to start every series."

Paine had walked to the coin toss on Friday without the customary captain's blazer on, reflecting just how fast-moving a week like no other in Australian cricket has been. There had not been time to have one made up for him and sent over.

It mattered not how the 33-year-old was attired, though, as he and the rest of the team set about beginning the healing process.

Speaking for the first time since he was elevated to the full-time captaincy, Paine said the past few days had been "strange and very difficult" for the players that remained.

"It’s just been really challenging for everyone involved. It’s a really stressful time and our thoughts are certainly with our teammates who aren’t here at the moment," he said.

"We’ve had conversations and a lot of coffees with each other talking about what we’re going to do to change and how we’re gonna do that going forward. From all this dark cloud at some stage there is going to be a silver lining and I think all the guys are really keen to be involved in how that looks.

"We’ll look to get through this week and after we go home we've got a fair bit of time off and potentially a new coach to come in and share some ideas. We’ll all sit down and map out how that looks, how we’re going to play."

Australia's players on the ground here had watched Smith's press conference in Sydney on their mobile phones and felt sad and sick. But this was also what they had seen for the previous four days - an inconsolable young man beside himself about what he had done and what he had thrown away.

So concerned were all here for him that there was someone with him at nearly all times.

The welfare of the three players tied up in the ball-tampering scandal has only emerged as a wider concern in the wake of the teary public appearances.

Fortunately, it has been of the utmost importance to team management and others in South Africa.

"I think a few guys watched it and I think it really cut them up, as it did anyone that watched that," Paine said. "You saw how difficult it was and how much not playing for Australia is hurting those guys.

"I think it's really important for us to realise how lucky and privileged we are. We want to make this environment in the Australian cricket team one that people can come in, be themselves and play their cricket to their best of their ability.

"And we want to have that sorted by the time that those guys are ready to come back into this team."

Having provided a sign of things to come, Paine elaborated on the style he planned to lead with, saying he had no intention of being a tyrant.

"I've never been a big believer in the cricket team being the captain’s team. I think that's a bit old school," Paine said.

"I see the captain’s role as being that link between the players and the staff and just a really small privileged role within Cricket Australia.

"It's just one part of the wheel and I'll be trying to be very involving of all my staff, all my players. That's the way I operate best."