Have we witnessed the last of Tim Paine in international cricket?
On December 8, 2021, Tim Paine turned 37 years old. Being on the wrong side of the 30s, it’s an arduous task for a cricketer to stage a comeback in domestic cricket, leave alone international cricket. After making his debut way back in 2010, Paine was in and out of the team for as long as eight years. But the 2018 ball-tampering saga at the Newlands in Cape Town changed his fortunes for the better.
Steve Smith was going great guns as the Australian captain before the infamous incident sent his career in the doldrums. Paine took over from Smith and was tasked with the responsibility of restoring Australia’s credibility at the highest level. He introduced the ‘handshake’ gesture and it seemed as if their cricket was coming together. Paine seemed to have resurrected his career.
Tim Paine goes down the barrel
However, before he took over as the skipper, he was involved in an incident that came back to haunt him four years later. The ‘sexting scandal’ has put Paine in the shambles at a time when he would have looked to end his sojourn on a high. The situation worsened to an extent that he took an indefinite break from cricket and it remains to be seen if he’ll ever make a comeback.
Paine was a part of the Ashes and was set to lead the team in the five-match Test series. But after the unwanted incident, Pat Cummins replaced him at the helm. Paine’s misery also opened up the doors on Alex Carey, who made his Test debut at The Gabba in Brisbane. Carey got into the Test-playing eleven after plying his trade in quite a few ODIs and T20Is in his short career.
During his playing days in the last couple of years, the Tasmania-born Paine conjured a bit of criticism for not being able to contribute a whole lot with the bat. He mostly batted in the lower-middle order and couldn’t chip in with consistent shows.
Having last donned the coloured jersey back in 2018, Paine’s ODI and T20I careers are all, but over. In Test cricket, he’s not in the greatest of positions either. Josh Philippe, Josh Inglis and Carey are already in contention. Most importantly, they are much younger than Paine.
