Tim Paine, the former Australian captain has resigned his captaincy following revelation about his lewd text messages to one of his female colleague about 4 years ago. He was exonerated at that time after an investigation but in the light of the said messages becoming public, he decided to leave the captaincy and as a result his place in the team itself is threatened. Is it correct to remove Paine from the team?
“Today I’m announcing my decision to stand down as the captain of the Australian Men’s Test team. It’s an incredibly difficult decision but the right one for me, my family and cricket.”
The decision came after allegations emerged of misconduct back in 2017.
“As a background on my decision, nearly four years ago, I was involved in a text exchange with a then-colleague,” Paine said. “At the time, the exchange was the subject of a thorough CA Integrity Unit investigation, throughout which I fully participated in and openly participated in.”
This was Paine’s private space
Inappropriate behaviour of a player is nothing new. Paine’s wasn’t first nor will it be the last. These things will continue. More so if the said player is popular and people tends to take advantage of that. People who may want get popular too quickly, might take a similar route. The point is that this was Paine’s private space. He made a mistake. A married man with 2 children must not have done what he did but it was completely private. If reports are to be believed, it was consensual too. The angle of immoral behaviour not befitting an Australian captain is put across. Whether Paine regrets his behaviour does not really matter at all. What happened has happened. There is no going back. This is where Cricket Australia must have stepped in to support Paine.
Paine cannot be accused of immoral behaviour on the field of play. He didn’t commit any crime that would have dragged the game into disrepute. Whatever he did was in the private confines of wherever he was at that time.
The case of Shane Warne
Years ago, Shane Warne, who could have become the greatest of Australian captain was never allowed to captain the Australian side, save for a few ODIs, because of his off-field shenanigans. The volume of his outlandish behaviour outside of the ground, the innumerable number of extramarital affairs was the sole reason he was never made the Australian captain. He was also involved in spot fixing and performance enhancing drugs just before the 2003 ODI World Cup. He was rightly banned for 12 months.
However, the real reason he wasn’t made the captain was because just before Ricky Ponting was made the permanent captain, Warne had an escapade with one of his family friend and was jettisoned from captain Australia ever. His performance on the field, his tactical nous, his brilliant decision making during the short stint he had been Australia’s ODI captain was never considered. Warne had all the qualities that would have made him a captain that other teams around the world would have envied. However, he was denied that opportunity. Though in Warne’s case, he did not lose his spot because of the off-field shenanigans.
Shane Warne has been compassionate with Paine
“It was sad to see what happened last Friday on so many levels and the circumstances in which Tim was forced to stand down. I really feel for him, what he’s going through, and what his family is going through,” Warne added.
“I’m not judging him on this incident. Just because Tim is in the public eye doesn’t mean he won’t make a mistake. Sportspersons are human, they have feelings. Let’s stop the judgement. It’s not our place to do that.”
The point is this act of Paine must not be the reason for him to be dropped. Yes, he deserved to be dropped from the team if his performance was not impressive. If his keeping is substandard and his batting is pretty ordinary. Yes, it is agreed that Paine is not a good batsman. Certainly not in the mould of Adam Gilchrist, the fellow Australian but it was because of his crucial 72 Australia won the first test at Adelaide against India in 2020. Otherwise, Australia could have lost the series 0-3 and that would have been devastating.
Ofcourse, his ill-advised chirps during the 3rd test at Sydney and the fact that Australia subsequently lost the series showed him to be stupid but his keeping remind tidy and batting decent enough for a wicket keeper batsman. It is a given that Paine would have walked in if it weren’t for this revelation. Australian board would not have thought of dropping him. This situation must not change that. If his keeping or batting deteriorates during the series, drop him by all means. He has already paid with his captaincy for his misdeeds but must not pay with his place too unless he deserves.
Shane Warne already has a replacement for Paine
“Inglis gets my vote. He’s got silky smooth hands behind the stumps, he’s a 360 degree player with the bat and coming off three first class hundreds last season for Western Australia. He’s a great team man who I saw first hand at the London Spirit this year. Get him in.”
Perhaps Warne will want to wait for few tests.
Cricket Tasmania is not taking it kindly about the treatment meted to Paine. They are really furious. Anger is palpable at Tasmania.
“In conversations I have had in recent days it is clear that the anger amongst the Tasmanian cricket community and general public is palpable,” Gaggin said. “Tim Paine has been a beacon for Australian cricket over the past four years and instrumental in salvaging the reputation of the national team after the calamity of Cape Town.
“Yet, at a time when [Cricket Australia] should have supported Tim, he was evidently regarded as dispensable. The treatment afforded to the Australian Test captain by Cricket Australia has been appalling, and the worst since Bill Lawry over 50 years ago.”
These are really strong words. If Paine is to be dropped from the Australian team, surely Tasmanian supporters will not be enthused.
The only question before Cricket Australia is that would they have dropped Paine from captaincy and from the team if his conversation had not been revealed?
