Tim Paine is not suited for ODI cricket and must immediately be replaced as both wicketkeeper and Australian captain.
The Tasmanian has done an outstanding job behind the stumps in Test cricket since returning last summer but has always shaped as the wrong choice to keep for Australia in 50-over cricket.
Paine lacks the power game to have an impact with the bat at number seven in ODIs, and this has deepened what was already Australia’s biggest problem – their shaky middle order.
Since returning to the Australian ODI team in January, Paine has played 11 matches, including two tour games in England which netted a return of 164 runs at an average of 18.
The biggest concern, though, is his dawdling strike rate of 82 in that time. That strike rate translates to a run rate of 4.92 runs per over, the kind of figure which would have been acceptable from a number seven 20 years ago but which is miles below par in this era of 350-plus team totals.
By comparison, his opposite number in this series, England’s Jos Buttler, has a career strike rate of 117.
Obviously, Australia have no keeper-batsmen anywhere near the equal of Buttler who is now arguably the second-most valuable ODI cricketer in the world after Indian captain Virat Kohli.
But Australia cannot afford to carry a keeper in Paine who is more of a hindrance than a help with the bat.
(Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
With Australia having only 16 more scheduled ODIs before the start of next year’s World Cup, they cannot waste time, they must immediately replace Paine.
As I wrote prior to this ODI series, which Australia lost 5-0, the only way I could see Australia getting value out of Paine’s batting would be to elevate him to opener and ask him to attack the new ball like it’s a T20.
But even that idea has little merit now that Aaron Finch, Travis Head and Shaun Marsh have locked down their spots in the top three.
Finch is Australia’s most accomplished ODI batsman, Marsh was their standout player in this series, and Head has a fantastic record as an ODI opener – 484 runs at 48, with a strike rate of 98.
That leaves nowhere for Paine to bat except down at six or seven, where he patently lacks the necessary dynamism.
Fortunately for Australia, they have the perfect candidate to replace Paine as ODI skipper in opener Finch.
The Victorian has captaincy experience at State level and has also led Australia in both ODIs and T20s. As one of the first players picked in the ODI team he would add stability.
The question of who should replace Paine as ODI keeper is less clear. I’ve written previously that I believe the best option is Peter Handscomb, who has a dominant record as a keeper in one day cricket, with 904 runs at 50.
From a batting point of view, the next best candidate after Handscomb would be Cameron Bancroft who had a fantastic JLT Cup last summer, keeping neatly and hammering 265 runs at 53, with a strike rate of 104.
But Bancroft is banned for nine months due to the ball-tampering scandal.
(Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
That leaves Handscomb and South Australian Alex Carey as the obvious frontrunners to replace Paine. As much as I would like to see Handscomb given that opportunity, it is clear Carey is next in line as far as the selectors are concerned.
I have had misgivings about Carey’s suitability in ODIs. He will very likely need to bat at seven, and often be tasked with clattering boundaries with five men out on the rope in the final 20 overs of the innings.
It remains to be seen whether Carey has the ability to adapt to this challenge – given that in State cricket he plays as a slow-scoring opening batsman, with a crawling strike rate of 73.
There is a massive difference between knocking a hard, new ball into the many gaps available during the Power Play and muscling boundaries when the field is set deep and the ball is soft. However, there have been some encouraging signs from Carey in his three-match ODI career to date.
He has twice played the kind of sprightly cameo that is handy from a number seven – 27 from 24 balls on debut against England in January, and 44 from 40 balls against England on Sunday.
Carey looked fluent against spin in both of those knocks, which is crucial given the way many teams looking to strangle Australia with spin in ODIs.
By comparison, in Paine’s 35 career ODIs, he has never once made 15 or more while scoring at a strike rate of 100 or better.
That is a damning statistic and one which should end Paine’s ODI career.
George
Guest
All WA players are his favourites.
Ches
Guest
You think this the major problem with this team?
The Runt
Guest
As a team in crisis stability is what is needed, so your captaincy options are?????
DickyM
Guest
Whitemans back this season...big favorite of Langers..
Stephen
Guest
Finch needs to work on his play against spin, he looked clueless this tour
DTM
Guest
I don't understand the carry on. This series was a time to experiment - we were never going to win the series against a full strength England team on their home turf. We had a new coach, a new captain and 6 or 7 of our first choice players out. The coaching staff have experimented and maybe found out a few things about some of the boys. I think they will all be better for the experience. I don't think Paine is in our best ODI side but he is doing a bigger job for us at the moment than just his batting stats display. Maybe Khawaja is in our best ODI 11 but I think the selectors know what they can get from him and I cant see S Marsh going to the World Cup because of his age (in my view, you can have one or the other not both - they are both poor fielders and similar style batsmen). I'm as concerned with our bowling depth as anything else - we got hit for 480 and no one has mentioned the bowlers. Richardson x 2 are not international class and Stoinis needs to earn his spot through his batting as he is a part time bowler at best. In contrast to popular opinion, I do not like Lyon in the ODI team - Ali bowls darts whereas Lyon likes to flight the ball and the big hitters love that on the small grounds. Agar doesn't get enough wickets and it appears we have dumped Zampa. I know the article was about Paine but I don't think he was ever going to the WC.
Krishna Singh
Roar Rookie
khawaja setting himself up for a big ashes next year
Krishna Singh
Roar Rookie
No more excuses, get khawaja in
Krishna Singh
Roar Rookie
And wow he isn’t part of squad ??? selectors
Krishna Singh
Roar Rookie
Khawja needs to ignore the negatives &focus on being the next big threat to all teams!
Krishna Singh
Roar Rookie
Bradman never scored 3 tons on the trot in county cricket haha
Krishna Singh
Roar Rookie
Khawaja hasn't gotten enough of chances in ODIs and T20s after his comeback.
Krishna Singh
Roar Rookie
Khawaja will never get fair chances from biased aus selectors.
Eddie Otto
Roar Guru
Paine should never have been on the plane given his importance in the Test format the next 18 months. He struggled mightily in 50 Over cricket before and his body has let him down over the years. Now he would be mentally under pressure having suffered a 5-0 defeat rather then concentrating solely on the test side. I thought it was a really poor selection. Finch is more then capable of taking the reigns given his experience.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Chris I understand the desire to bat deep but Hazlewood is the number 3 ranked ODI bowler in the world and has categorically outbowled Cummins in 50-over cricket over the past 18 months: Hazlewood ....... 24 wickets at 24 Cummins .......... 20 wickets at 41 Once MMarsh is back then I think Australia might be best balanced by having 3 pace options - Starc, Hazlewood and Marsh - plus two spinners in Agar and Lyon. With Cummins in that side instead of a second spinner you've got three fairly similar bowlers in that Hazlewood, Cummins and Marsh are all 6'4 - 6'5 right arm quicks. The really strong batting lineups love it when they are facing a lot of similar bowlers as they can really start lining them up. Because of the hitting power elite ODI batsmen now boast, ODI bowling strategies are moving more and more towards T20 strategies - and in T20s you never want to allow a batsman to settle in against a certain style of bowling. But of course playing two spinners is new territory for Australia so they should just trial it in their next 8-10 matches and see how it goes. If it doesn't work they can easily switch back to a pace-dominated attack.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Except his appointment was only ever as an interim captain, really picked for this series with the thought of reconsidering everything once the series is over. Combine that with the fact that the world cup is only 12 months away and there's only something like 17 ODI's between now and then to work things out, and the fact that his performances really don't merit a place in the team, let alone as captain, really points to no other solution other than naming a new captain for the next lot of ODI's as Paine won't even be in the team.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I'm a fan of Stanlake, but I don't think there's even room for all three of Hazlewood, Cummins and Starc, and I think in that, Hazlewood misses out. Unless Stanlake becomes a significantly better option than Starc and/or Cummins, then I'd pick those two over him because it helps us bat deeper, which definitely makes a difference. (One of the issues Australia had in this series was they had such a short batting lineup that if they lost a couple of wickets they quickly went into "consolidation mode" instead of having the freedom to keep attacking that a deep batting lineup gives you). But I am really hoping to see Stanlake playing Shield cricket this year. I think he could well be a really top bowler for us for years to come if his body can hold up. Really has the Curtly Ambrose feel to him, tall, fast and accurate. Though, I doubt he can pull off the intimidating look Ambrose mastered. (Not saying he's as good as Ambrose. But he's sort of in that mould. If he could end up anywhere near that good that would be amazing for Australian cricket!!!)
qwetzen
Guest
Yawn. Another ROC piece with a melodramatic "must" in its headline. This must stop!...
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
Maybe he shouldn't be captain and maybe he shouldn't be in the side. Australia has better keeper/batsmen available and better captaincy options!
Peter
Roar Rookie
He's not enough of a lickspittle for Langer.