If Australia needed another reminder of just how far reaching the ramifications of their cheating in South Africa were, it came on the morning of their arrival media conference at Lord’s in the form of the resignation of James Sutherland.

Cricket Australia’s chief executive was accused of indecision when his country’s biggest cricketing scandal broke in Cape Town back in March. The fall-out from Australia’s ball-tampering in the third Test at Newlands had already claimed notable scalps in captain Steve Smith, David Warner, his deputy, and coach Darren Lehmann.

Sutherland, who will stay on in the interim until a successor is found, followed on Wednesday morning after 17 years of running Australian cricket.

With a five-match one-day series against England starting at The Oval next week, Australia can expect plenty more reminders of ‘sandpaper-gate’ from crowds over the coming weeks.

The Ashes through the years Show all 24 1 /24 The Ashes through the years The Ashes through the years The Ashes England and Australia have battled for the little urn for over a hundred years with countless iconic moments along the way Getty The Ashes through the years One of England's first heroes was Sydney Barnes who starred as the series' were evenly contested until the First World War Hulton Archive The Ashes through the years England won only one Test out of 15 from the end of the war until 1925 with Herbert Sutcliffe one of few standouts Hulton Archive The Ashes through the years Post-war the great Don Bradman put England to the sword time and again scoring 974 runs in a single series in 1930 Hulton Archive The Ashes through the years In 1956 Jim Laker produced the bowling display of a lifetime taking 19 of the possible 20 Australian wickets in an England victory at Old Trafford Hulton Archive The Ashes through the years England's dominance was short-lived with Richie Benaud skippering Australia to a dominant series win in 1959 Hulton Archive The Ashes through the years Geoffrey Boycott entered the fray in the 1970s and was never too far away from the headlines Hulton Archive The Ashes through the years Ray Illingworth guided England to success in Australia in the 1970/71 series Hulton Archive The Ashes through the years Allan Border's relentless will to win kickstarted an extended period of success for Australia in the eighties Getty The Ashes through the years Ian Botham's match-winning heroics at Headingley in 1981 remain one of the rivalry's most memorable and iconic moments Getty The Ashes through the years Steve Waugh was one of the stars as Australia ruthlessly seized control of the Ashes in the 1990s Getty The Ashes through the years Shane Warne exploded on to the scene in 1993 with the 'ball of the century' and would go on to torment England for years to come AFP The Ashes through the years Glenn McGrath played an integral part in the Australian dominance establishing himself as the pre-eminent seam bowler of his generation Getty The Ashes through the years The tide turned in 2005 with Steve Harmison's last-gasp wicket at Edgbaston proving vital to a famous recapturing of the urn Getty The Ashes through the years The 2005 series is widely-regarded as the greatest of them all Getty The Ashes through the years England came crashing back to earth in 2007 with Australia handing them an infamous whitewash before McGrath, Warne and Justin Langer all called it a day in Sydney Getty The Ashes through the years James Anderson and Monty Panesar's stout rearguard action in 2009 was key as England regained the Ashes Getty The Ashes through the years Alastair Cook was England's hero in 2011 with 766 runs and three centuries including an imperious 235* in Brisbane Getty The Ashes through the years Graeme Swann was outstanding with the ball too as England won the series 3-1 Getty The Ashes through the years Ian Bell top scored in the summer of 2013 as England kept the urn Getty The Ashes through the years Mitchell Johnson produced the form of his life to obliterate England in 2013/14 in a second whitewash in five series Getty The Ashes through the years Stuart Broad's memorable 8 for 15 at Trent Bridge saw Australia dismissed for 60 in one of the great fast bowling spells Getty The Ashes through the years Steve Smith starred as Australia bulldozed England in 2017/18 Getty Images The Ashes through the years Joe Root and Tim Paine captain the sides this time around Getty Images

It was perhaps inevitable that their first series since the ball-tampering affair would be in England.

Yet Justin Langer, the spiky former opener who is Lehmann’s successor as coach, and Tim Paine, who has taken over the captaincy from Smith, are both ready to embrace the abuse.

“We’ve spoken about this and we think it’s going to be pretty full on,” said Paine. “We expect that when we come to England all the time. This time we come with a bit more of a reason for them to do it. We’re looking forward to it to be honest. It just adds a bit of spice.

“We’ve got some guys here for the first time and to jump into the deep end will be a great learning experience for them. We expect it from the crowds everywhere we go now and it’s one of the challenges of international cricket.”

Paine spoke well about restoring the shattered reputation of Australian cricket. “There’s no doubt our reputation as a cricketing nation took a bit of a battering in South Africa,” he said. “For the players to come to terms with what happened and what we’d done was really difficult.

“Certainly coming to England now with a few new faces and coach and getting back into cricket is a great opportunity for us to move on and show the cricketing world where we have made some changes.”

Langer and Paine are ready to turn over a new leaf (Getty)

Yet people would be mistaken if they think this ‘new-look’ Australia won’t resort to sledging.

Langer says the now infamous ‘line’ has gone. Instead, there will be on-field intensity but this Australian side will not resort to outright abuse – a charge some of their predecessors were accused of.

Langer retold a tale about playing cards with his daughter to make his point. “It’s an interesting word, sledging,” he said. “In Australia it’s actually a good word. For example if I play Uno, the card game, with my daughter there’s lots of banter. We sort of sledge each other but we don’t abuse each other.

“And if I play golf with my mum and dad it’s the same. There’s a difference between banter and abuse and abuse is no good. There’s no room for it on the field but there’s plenty of room for banter or what we call sledging because it’s a fun part of the game. Abuse is not on, it’s as simple as that. There’s no line. It’s just not on.”

Australia cricket captain Steve Smith breaks down in press conference over ball tampering scandal

Paine added: “We want to be more respectful in the way we go about it. We don’t think we will change the way we play in a really competitive spirit.

“It’s the difference between abuse and banter. Certainly we’re not going to be silent on the field. We’re still coming here to win and we’ll be extremely competitive. We won’t be overly nice. We’ve still got to have that hard edge.

“I’m sure you’ll hear us talking through the stump mic but it’s up to me and Justin and the senior players to stay on the side of banter and never go to abuse. While I’m captain and Justin is coach abuse won’t be accepted.”

According to England’s players, Australian ‘banter’ definitely strayed into the realms of abuse during last winter’s Ashes – with Jonny Bairstow targeted in a very personal way.

Paine is ready to lead Australia into a new era (Getty)

“Certainly from both sides in that series and in South Africa there were times when it became very close to being abuse but that’s not what we’re about,” said Paine.

Asked if Australia’s new team ‘culture’ has been formalised in writing, Langer says: “We’re very clear what those values are and what our expectations of behaviour are. We can put all the fanciest mission statements and expectations on posters up on the wall but if you don’t live them they’re like toilet paper, mate. That’s the truth. “Yeah they’re written down but the words are irrelevant. It’s how we live them all the time that’s important.”

This inexperienced Australian one-day squad, missing the banned Smith and Warner as well as injured fast bowlers Josh Hazelwood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, appear to be on a hiding to nothing against an England side ranked No1 in the world.

Paine, though, believes his side can come out on top. ““Absolutely we can win this series,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for other guys to come in and fill the void.”