Sexting scandal to expletive-filled rant: The controversial reign of Tim Paine as Australia’s Test captain
Australia’s preparations for The Ashes received a massive setback as Tim Paine stepped down as Test captain over a sexting scandal. As per reports, Paine sent lewd messages to a female co-worker in 2017.
Paine was investigated by Cricket Australia and Cricket Tasmania, who concluded that there had been no breach of the Cricket Australia Code of Conduct. However, the 36-year-old recently learned that the private exchange was to be made public.
Following the development, the wicketkeeper-batter announced his resignation as Australia’s Test captain in Hobart on Friday.
🚨BREAKING🚨
Tim Paine has stepped down as the Australian Test Captain after an investigation was launched over explicit messages he sent to a co-worker.
#Australia #Ashes https://t.co/fb9hnGtvdR
Releasing a statement, Paine said:
“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."
Apologizing for his conduct, Paine said that he was stepping down because he didn’t want the controversy to become “an unwelcome disruption to the team ahead of what is a huge Ashes series”.
Tim Paine: No stranger to controversies
In the wake of Paine’s decision to step down as Australia’s Test captain, we look back at previous instances when the cricketer made news for the wrong reasons.
#1 Paine’s “no one is forcing you to come” dig at England
At a time when there was growing uncertainty over England’s arrival in Australia for the Ashes owing to COVID-19 rules, Paine, in an unemphatic manner, sent out a message to the England cricketers - "If you don’t want to come, don’t come".
Speaking on Australian radio station SEN Hobart, Paine showed scant regard for the plight of England’s cricketers, who were worried about their mental well-being and commented:
“They’ll have a choice to make, you either get on that plane or don’t. No one is forcing you to come. If you don’t want to come, don’t come. The Ashes are going ahead. The first Test is on 8 December, whether Joe is here or not. There will be a squad of England players coming here.”
That’s not all. Paine even went on to claim that England’s players complaints were nothing more than an attempt to secure “the best possible conditions they can”.
#2 Paine’s expletive-filled rant at umpire
Paine lost his cool and had a go at the on-field umpire after Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara survived a bat-pad appeal on Day 3 of the India versus Australia third Test in Sydney at the start of 2021.
The Australians appealed for a catch by Matthew Wade off Nathan Lyon’s bowling. After the umpire ruled the batter not out, Paine went for the DRS. While the leg-side hotspot replays were blocked by Wade’s body, “UltraEdge” showed a small spike as the ball went past the bat.
The third umpire, however, upheld the not out call, which led to a verbal onslaught from Paine.
Australian captain Tim Paine has unleashed an expletive rant at umpire Paul Wilson over Test cricket's umpire review system, asking for some "f***ing consistency". #AUSvIND #7NEWS 7news.com.au/sport/cricket/…
The Australian captain lashed out at on-field umpire Paul Wilson, who promptly told him that he was not the third umpire. However, Paine continued to argue with the umpire and even used expletives during the exchange.
He was fined 15 per cent of his match fee for showing dissent at an umpire's decision.
Paine’s anger stemmed from an incident during the previous Test when he was given out caught despite there not being conclusive evidence of him having edged a ball.