Prior to the first Test against Pakistan, the summer’s looming story centred on when Australian skipper Tim Paine might call it quits on his brief, albeit remarkable, career.
The wartime captain, who turned 35 after the Adelaide Test, had already achieved his key goals. Having retained the Ashes and, along with Justin Langer, transformed a dressing room culture in need of wholesale change, boxes number one and two were ticked off.
And with series against Pakistan and New Zealand to come (ones in which his side would start as firm favourites) a swansong summer loomed.
In turn, speculation arose whether the man he replaced would duly retake his position.
The drip-feed of opinion, mostly from former players, that Steve Smith should retain the captaincy would only heighten the sense of a looming expiry date on Paine’s captaincy.
Mark Waugh said a return to Smith was the “logical” move, while Brian Lara said his leadership was “up there with the very best”. Nipping at his heels, keeper-in-waiting Alex Carey’s consistent form didn’t help Paine’s cause, either.
While there mightn’t have been critics of the captain per se, the noise suggested this summer might be his last.
Tim Paine (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
But Paine had other ideas.
As he led his team off the SCG dais on Monday afternoon, he might have afforded himself the chance to stick one to the critics (internally, of course). Not just for leading another successful series, but for earning himself more time in a role he has made his own.
The Australian skipper led from the front, executing one of the most complete wicketkeeping performances we’ve seen in some time, while remaining a steady number seven who contributes runs when needed.
While performances from the likes of Marnus Labuschagne and David Warner stole the limelight, Paine’s less-apparent influence, as has been the case in the last 12 months, was equally crucial.
Langer last week termed him “almost our most important player” and said speculation over the skipper’s future was merely external.
“The truth is there’s been conjecture from outside, there’s never been one millisecond of conjecture from within our team,” the coach said.
Australia head coach Justin Langer (David Davies/PA via AP)
On a leadership front, Paine further stamped his authority on the team, leading a ruthless outfit that punched the opposition bruise at every possible chance.
When the Australians were cruising with the bat, they would ensure their position of strength never ceased – five out of five first-innings totals of 400-plus attest to that.
With the ball, they were equally ruthless. In four of the six times they bowled to New Zealand, the Black Caps were skittled for under 180.
Paine’s influence shouldn’t be overstated, but his impact (along with Langer) on the side’s mentality is clear.
With the gloves, he remains strikingly clean, a near-flawless summer capped off with some polished work behind the stumps to Nathan Lyon at the SCG.
His numbers back it up, too. No player in the history of Test cricket has had more than Paine’s 140 dismissals after 31 Tests. His 58 dismissals in 2019 (56 catches, two stumpings) was 24 more than the next best, and the equal-sixth highest ever in a calendar year.
Again, he is helped in this by one of modern cricket’s best bowling quartets, but keen watchers of the game know his worth. His feet are tidy, his hands are sharp, and he rarely misses.
Tim Paine has been rock solid behind the stumps. (AAP Image/Jono Searle)
With the bat (the main knock on his game) Paine chipped in where needed and compiled a momentum-shifting 79 at the MCG, an innings he looked almost certain for a maiden Test ton. Despite the outside pressure on this aspect of his game, his average of 31.58 is the third-highest of all Australian wicketkeeper-batsmen, behind Brad Haddin and Adam Gilchrist.
Paine’s clinical summer was not by chance, either. The captain has put in place measures to extend his career as long as possible, namely giving up almost all white-ball cricket.
His performances not only buy Paine more time in a role he cherishes, it allows Cricket Australia more time to find his successor.
Should Paine captain until the world Test championship final (results pending) in mid-2021, it gives the governing body another 18 months to find the country’s next Test captain. If he leads until then, it’s unlikely it will be Smith to replace him.
Paine himself, though, won’t be looking too far ahead. He knows he can’t as a 35-year-old. But this summer has underlined his true importance.
And it has seen the critics’ noise grow quieter by the day.
Pierro
Roar Rookie
I think ill second that, like his sense of humor
Pierro
Roar Rookie
Meh the biggest promoter of paine is in his 30s and the detractor is merely responding to comments debating and well putting forward facts against some who need a reality check on what happened in the ashes where paine aided substantially in not bringing home a win as opposed to a draw . Hope your well btw , we got 11 months until the issue is even in debate on paine. Meanwhile we will be stuck in a t20 and ODI long winter it seems
Pierro
Roar Rookie
your still going on this ….well considering theres no tests really until late november outside of some waterlogs in bangladesh its a moot issue and won’t be an issue for some 10 months. hell be superseded next year latest. CA will give him a send off next year some time at best. Have some fun watching carey int he ODI and t20s in the mean time lets see if he can keep up his brilliant efforts. Facts are facts my friend , a fact is always accurate otherwise it wouldn’t be a fact, so your wrong about saying facts are inaccurate
JamesH
Roar Guru
I'm disagreeing with you over your 'pretty obvious' statement. I explained why, expecting a discussion, and you got all defensive for some reason. Now you're actually throwing out insults. I genuinely don't get the angst. I wasn't rude or disrespectful in disagreeing with you. I just tried to debate a point you raised. I guess I'll know better next time, hey? Have a nice day.
Jason
Roar Rookie
"Charming" What do you expect ? You are being simply argumentative, apparently for your own enjoyment. Obviously you like the sound of your own voice. I can just imagine you are the sort of person who would never concede a point of view and could argue the sky is not really blue. My initial comment was "Langer and the support staff" everything stems from that appointment. Now I have had an absolute gut full .
JamesH
Roar Guru
Charming. Apparently you can state an opinion but I can't debate it. BTW, I was responding to your second comment ("pretty obvious..."), not your first one.
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
They might be nice facts, but so far they've either been inaccurate or irrelevant! And here's the only one that matters - Tim Paine is the Australian Test captain and wicketkeeper and will be doing both jobs for a while to come.
Pierro
Roar Rookie
Dont bother rereading , type quickly mate . Sarcasm i realized, but of course a bit of course always happy to hit you back with some nice facts
Jason
Roar Rookie
I think you should read my initial comment again. Then remove the foot from your argumentative gob.
JamesH
Roar Guru
Not at all. You're welcome to your opinion but you need to be able to back it up with some substance. You've reached the conclusion that it's Langer who deserves the credit. We've simply pointed out that it's impossible to conclude to what degrees Langer and Paine each deserve credit that without more information. The mere existence of a change in culture isn't enough because Langer is only one of a number of key personnel (including Paine) who has been involved in the transition. Asking you to back up an opinion is fair, surely?
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
Mate - you need to learn two things: recognising sarcasm, and how to use punctuation. Good luck!
Pierro
Roar Rookie
Thanks christo ill take that as a compliment, but many would have selected starc at lords and oval and many would have dropped warner during the series , not to mention some wanted to start labuschange from first test on his county av on here (ronan and myself did ) and several wanted carey to have a go during it as a batsman off his world cup and lead up averages on english soil not to mention a few other poor selections
Jason
Roar Rookie
Unless you have inside knowledge ,every comment or article you have written is your opinion. You, I and everyone else form our opinions on the information we see, read or hear. Quite a few form their opinions with an element of bias, and some form their opinions with total bias. You just wish to be argumentative for the sake of it. Not interested.
JamesH
Roar Guru
The fact that a few players have praised Langer doesn't mean the change in ethos is all down to him. You still have no way of knowing specifically what Langer has changed and what Paine has changed. It's all an assumption on your part.
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
You're clearly a better expert than all the professionals then. I'm surprised you're not a selector...
Pierro
Roar Rookie
Who wants what is irrelevant christo. the ashes in england were drawn due to four players. Paine was generally a negative in the captaincy department and batting department and it contributed us to not winning there.
Pierro
Roar Rookie
Ah we are eye to eye there general and most definitely both stubborn. The animal life has been awful , here in victoria the ash in the air is like a constant reminder of the demise of so many animals and nature to me. Its given city folk a constant reminder of the perils which is good, I don't think melbournes ever had weeks of bushfire smoke and air pollution thats hazardous that I can remember . Tassie had a few bad fires. One day here we had a southerly blowing on thursday I think , you think it would push the air north clearingmelbourne but nope it blew up all the smoke/ash from tassie which had a few bad fires blanketing bass straight and melbourne yet again. Its really awful never in my lifetime anything like this , the breathing problems for elderly and athsmatics off the charts in melbourne. What gets me like you is the animal loss though. 500 million min but estimates of animal loss are as high as 1.2 billion animals across aus in 8 weeks. One can not even visualize it mentally . We've all been pretty powerless to help the animals out but can give to the right entities now but it was armageddon and climate change is not helping the cause with temps.
Pierro
Roar Rookie
Thats a good point on warner but falls in to the shared botch up there of selectors (should have dropped warner ) , paines captaincy and umpiring. It also supports my argument for the four key players and their outstanding averages that drew us the ashes , smith and labs averaging off the charts and cummins /hazewlood averaging under 20 (until last test where hazel slipped slightly over 20) were not what ifs . These averages were extemely high much better than very good or excellent they were exceptional series statistics which back up the primary reason we even came away with a draw in the series
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
The team, the coach and the selectors all want Paine as captain. You admit they’re not wrong. Thanks!
TheGeneral
Roar Rookie
Yes we can banter back and forward, and neither of us will change our minds. I am too old and stubborn. Yes the fires have been horrific, and as much as I feel for the human losses, as an animal lover I am horrified by the loss of life of Koalas, livestock etc. We have been lucky enough in Tassie to have escaped (so far) any horrific fires. There is one burning at near Fingal in our NE area. Not much damage as yet. Hope it stays thgat way and that the mainland gets some relief.