Australian players' on-field behaviour came under heavy criticism during the Sydney Test against India in 2008 when Andrew Symonds alleged that he was racially abused by Harbahjan Singh. Ponting's on-field behaviour also divided the Australian fans.

The survey found that the Australian side's acceptability of their behaviour dropped to 8.17 from last year's 8.47 out of 10.

The cricketers' individual score on their behaviour was between 5.67 and 8.42 out of 10, way below some of the top Australian sportspersons like golfer Geoff Ogilvy (8.85) and swimmer Grant Hackett (8.91).