Australian cricketers who resort to boorish behaviour could face the wrath of teammates under a new code developed by the side to eliminate the sledging tag that tarnishes its record achievements.

The Australians have again vowed to play hard but fair in a new code of conduct written by the players urging each other to cut out personal insults and accept umpiring decisions.

But in a new move, incidents such as Glenn McGrath's spat with West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan in April and Darren Lehmann's racial vilification of the Sri Lankan team last December could become areas where players overstepping the mark must answer to the team.

"We've talked about that and hopefully it won't get to that," Test captain Steve Waugh said.

"Cricket Australia (CA) and the International Cricket Council have got regulations in place, but if we think someone is stepping out of line and not doing the side any favours then we'll try and work it out among ourselves to start with.

"That's certainly an avenue we have got and we've talked about."

The players spent much of the weekend's training camp - ahead of Thursday's first Test against Zimbabwe at the WACA - formalising the code.

CA has incorporated the code into its Spirit of Cricket policy, which will be filtered to all levels of the game.

It's not the first time Australia has expressed its desire to remove the ugly element from its cricket, but Waugh said the players were keen to continue improving.

"There's always going to be people cynical out there and there's always going to be mistakes," he said.

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