Michael Clarke has taken aim at Australia's changed ways, saying the national side won't enjoy much success if they desert the aggression and "toughness" that became synonymous with Australian teams of the past.
In the wake of the dramatic tour to South Africa in March, which has seen a raft of personnel changes - both sporting and executive - Australia have tried to clean up their act on and off the field.
That includes captain Tim Paine initiating a pre-match handshake with Proteas players in Johannesburg, and the new players' pact that urges Australia's fans to "compete with us, smile with us, fight on with us, dream with us".
National ODI and T20 captain Aaron Finch also said that Australia must play 'hard cricket' against India, rather than resort to 'easy' sledging.
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Clarke - who said Australian cricket "is in a dark place" and needs to be doing everything it can to "get everyone back loving the game" - is far from pleased with the changed attitudes, and believes the side 'won't win shit' if the Aussies persist in striving to be 'liked', rather than focusing on performance.
The vacuum of runs left behind by the bans of captain Steve Smith and deputy David Warner has influenced the national side's rotten run of poor results, with Australia losing 18 of their last 26 matches across all three formats.
"Australian cricket, I think, needs to stop worry about being liked and start worrying about being respected," Clarke said on Macquarie Sports Radio on Tuesday.
"Play tough Australian cricket. Whether we like it or not, that's in our blood.
"If you try and walk away from it, we might be the most liked team in the world, we’re not going to win shit. We won’t win a game. Boys and girls want to win."
Clarke, who was full-time skipper of Australian teams between 2011 and 2015, led successful sides that used fire and brimstone at times, particularly to a home series whitewash over England and an away series against South Africa.
While Clarke's Aussies played an impressive, aggressive brand of cricket, it became too much for some, with now-Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis describing Clarke's side as a "pack of dogs".
On that tour in 2014, David Warner was a key to Australia's success with the bat, but four years later, as vice-captain, was outed as the architect behind the ball-tampering scandal.
Clarke sympathised with the banned opener, saying he 'loved' having Warner in his side because of the aggression that he brought to the table.
"It's his style, he’s very upfront, in your face. What you see with David Warner is what you get. Your greatest strength can be your greatest weakness," Clarke said.
"To me, I always loved having him in the team I was captaining because he brought that aggression that I wanted.
"In saying that, there was always a line, he knew that. We had a number of conversations one on one about that line he couldn’t overstep."
Between the England and South Africa series last summer, Warner led the national T20 side with great success off the back of a renewed sense of leadership.
However, the aggression came to a head during the first Test in Durban when he was involved in an ugly off-field altercation with Quinton de Kock, before the Newlands scandal put a damning full-stop to the rot.
Clarke suggested former skipper Smith should have been able to contain Warner without nullifying his 'positive approach'.
"There needs to be someone in that leadership, generally it should be your captain, that can control that," Clarke said.
"If that gets the best out of Warner, which I think it does, then you have to allow him to take it as far as you want and then say, 'righto, back you come, pull your head in, that’s enough'."
"[Warner] brings that positive approach to the Australian cricket team. You can't ask him to bring that and then on the other hand blame him or ask him to be a pussy cat when it comes to giving it.
"David Warner gives it to certain blokes on the field because he wants them to give it to him when he's batting. It's like a turn on, it makes him play better."
