The new buzzword in Australian cricket is “elite honesty” as the nation continues to revamp their image following the ball-tampering scandal in March that saw lengthy sanctions to stalwarts Steve Smith and David Warner.

Under new captain Tim Paine and coach Justin Langer, the results have not been upto scratch. After a whitewash in a limited-overs series against arch-rivals England, the Aussies were humbled by Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates across formats.

Now, against South Africa at Perth in the first One-day International, Dale Steyn and Co ran riot as they were bundled out for just 152. Pictures of the Australia dressing room was shared by the Cricket Australia general manager. “We are Australia’s Cricket Team”, “make Australians proud”, “patience” and “pressure” were some of the motivating phrases stuck on the wall. What caused a furore was “elite honesty”.

When asked, Langer explained the term: “You can lie to everyone else, but you can’t lie to yourself. So that’s elite honesty to yourself. And also, the Aussie way I know it is to look a bloke in the eye, look your sister or you mum in the eyes, and tell them the truth and be happy to get some truth back, so that’s elite honesty.”

After yet another poor performance, this time with Aaron Finch at the helm, there was a rallying cry from the Australian fans to get back to winning ways. Elite honesty, though, evoked a laugh or two.