Test captain Tim Paine is adamant last year’s ball-tampering scandal during Australia’s tour of South Africa has tamed several teams’ bids for questionable reverse swing.

Former captain Steven Smith and batsmen David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were banned from international cricket for being involved in the ball-tampering. Those suspensions have since ended, with Warner and Smith named in Australia’s squad for the Ashes series in the United Kingdom later this year.

‘I think teams are always looking at ways to get the ball to reverse swing,’Paine told cricket.com.au.

‘Whether that’s throwing it into the dirt, or using their fingers to work on the quarter seam, or in England for years it’s been talked about mints being used to impart sheen through players’ saliva – there’s always something.

‘The worrying trend was that teams were starting to try more and more methods, and getting more adventurous. So the thing I hope will come out of South Africa is that it will be cleaned up, and it will be a more level playing field rather than teams trying to push the boundaries and develop a mentality of “they’re doing this, so we’ll try this” and ‘they do that, so we’ll try it too’. I think for too long, it was allowed.’

The five-Test Ashes series will start at Edgbaston on 1 August. Lord’s, Headingley, Old Trafford and The Oval will host Tests two, three, four and five, respectively.

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