Paine could keep for Australia in all three formats

After being on the verge of retirement just nine months ago, Tim Paine now is a chance of nailing down Australia’s wicketkeeping spot in all three formats.

It’s been an extraordinary turnaround for the 32-year-old.

Paine is the incumbent in the Test and Twenty20 teams, yet the 50-over format has long been his strongest.

With Matthew Wade having averaged just eight with the bat from his past ten ODIs, the selectors surely will move in a new direction for this month’s five-match ODI series against England.

Victorian Peter Handscomb should contend strongly for that ODI keeping position, having kept for Australia three times last year in 50-over cricket – twice in New Zealand and once in India.

Handscomb, who has averaged 50 with the bat in the 27 List A matches he’s played as a wicketkeeper, told media last week he wants to be Australia’s first-choice ODI gloveman.

The Australian selectors may also consider SA ‘keeper Alex Carey and Test opener Cameron Bancroft. Carey is a slick gloveman, has a reasonable List A batting average of 30, and started the Big Bash League in hot batting form with scores of 44 and 83no.

Bancroft, meanwhile, was outstanding for WA in the recent domestic One Day Cup, keeping neatly and hitting 265 runs at an average of 53 with a blazing strike rate of 104.

Then there’s Paine, who only played one game for Tasmania in that tournament as the keeping duties were instead handled by Wade and Ben Dunk.

At that stage, Paine’s cricketing career was in a dire state. He could not get a game for Tasmania in either 50-over cricket or first-class cricket, with the Tigers overlooking him for their first four Shield games.

Paine must have been wondering if he would have been better off retiring, something he admitted he strongly considered at the end of the last Australian season.

Then, from nowhere, Paine was vaulted into Australia’s Ashes line-up. It was a left-field selection which prompted widespread shock and criticism.

(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

While I still find it hard to believe the Australian selectors chose a wicketkeeper who had struggled for two seasons to get a game for the weak Tasmanian side, their decision looks like a masterstroke right now.

Paine has been brilliant in this Ashes. His glovework has ranged from solid to sensational, maintaining a standard which Australia have not seen from their Test wicketkeeper since Adam Gilchrist retired ten years ago.

Paine has been clinical when standing up to the stumps for spin, and nimble and clean to the quicks.

His glovework, so far, has been even better than that of Peter Nevill, who did a good job behind the stumps during his 17 Tests. It was lack of runs which led to the axing of Nevill and of his successor Wade.

Despite having averaged just 19 with the bat from his previous four first-class seasons when he was called up to the Test team, Paine has been in wonderful touch with the blade. His opportunities have been limited, having only batted five times, but he’s compiled 154 runs at 38.

In each of those five knocks Paine has looked terrific from the start of his innings – sturdy in defence and quick to seize upon scoring opportunities. Whether he has been behind or in front of the stumps, Paine has seemed completely at home in this high-profile series.

The selectors deserve generous praise for the chances they took in picking Paine and Shaun Marsh, who also has had a wonderful Ashes. Suddenly Paine looks capable of holding down the Test keeping spot for the next two to three years.

This would be the perfect scenario for Australia, giving time for 26-year-old Carey to develop further and for the best young keeper-batsman in the country, WA’s Sam Whiteman, to hopefully shake off his persistent injury problems.

In the meantime, Paine could well find himself in the ODI team, with an opportunity to cement his position and make a run at the World Cup in England in 18 months from now. The Tasmanian must be pinching himself – his career is unrecognisable from just six weeks ago.