Too sloppy with his keeping, too predictable in his strategies, too boring with his bowling changes. Too old.
Following the series loss to India, there have been calls for Tim Paine to be replaced as the Australian Test captain.
It’s a strong reminder that in sport, you’re only as good as your last match, given the way we were heralding the Tasmanian this time last year after he led his charges to a clean-sweep summer, beating Pakistan 2-0 and then the Kiwis 3-0.
As the Aussies were in their death throes at the Gabba last Tuesday, Ian Chappell said on ABC Grandstand that you only notice a captain when he’s losing.
The funny thing about that is while Paine has been largely successful in his time in the second-most-important office in the land – coming into this series, he had only lost six Tests from 19 in charge – his captaincy has always been closely scrutinised, due to the way in which he came to the role.
After the 2018 fiasco in Cape Town, Paine had the job of captain thrust upon him and he was charged with creating a new era in the Aussie Test team.
As a result, his leadership has been dissected throughout his tenure, with largely positive results.
Tim Paine (Photo by Mark Brake – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
He appeared to be fostering a different culture in the team, one where ‘sledging’ was no longer acceptable, although ‘banter’ was fine.
Which is why his sniping from behind the stumps at Ravichandran Ashwin on Day 5 in Sydney was met with such shock.
Tim Paine doesn’t call people “dickhead”, what’s he playing at?
My two cents on his words that day are that Paine was a victim of a nation’s significantly lowered expectations.
We were all so eager to believe the keeper was great at banter that the sport pages frothed over how brilliant he was for asking Rishabh Pant to babysit his kids two summers ago, during the third Test match against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Despite it being a decidedly banal bit of chat, we Aussies were desperate to show that our team had changed, which led to the skipper being heralded as some kind of comic genius and the word “hilarious” used in just about every description of what was actually a pretty boring attempt to put off a batsman.
(As an aside, sporting publications all over the world need to retire the word ‘hilarious’ because they clearly don’t know what it means. Don’t even get me started on the crying-laughing emoji.)
But if you’re being held up as Jerry Seinfeld in whites – no blue humour here, just good, clean fun for the whole family – you’re going to be hauled over the coals if you resort to using a single crass word, as a clearly frustrated Paine did at the SCG.
His interaction with Ashwin wasn’t really that offensive or upsetting, it’s just that his chat to Pant wasn’t that funny or insightful either. His banter is as ordinary as his sledging and we shouldn’t have ever pretended it was otherwise – it was unfair on Paine.
But we were all just so smitten with him. He was the good-looking guy at the party who people fawn over and promise he’s clever and witty even if he’s offering up conversation that would put a freshly dosed meth-head to sleep.
As for why were we allowing both him and ourselves to believe this delusion, it’s because – generally crap chat aside – Tim Paine has been a bloody good leader.
After watching The Test last year I was so glad we had a steady hand on the tiller – and no, I don’t mean the coach.
Paine has overseen a shift in the team, with a premium on decency finally in place.
However, being a good leader doesn’t necessarily equate with being a tactically astute captain.
And with the best pace unit in the world and a spin bowler closing in on his 400th Test wicket, Paine was unable to get 20 wickets on three of his four attempts against India these past two months.
So perhaps it’s time Australia look at another model.
My proposal is something akin to that which the Knights employed in the 2001 NRL season, when Andrew Johns was captain of the first-grade side but Billy Peden was the club captain.
Essentially, the best player led the team, the best man led the club.
In this fashion, Tim Paine would have the title of Australian captain but he would cede the role of men’s Test team captain to the bloke with the smarts to win games – probably, at this point in time, one Steven Peter Devereux Smith.
You down with SPD? Yeh, you know me. (Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
This would see Paine held up as the spiritual leader, the first man on the field to shake hands with the opposition, give celebratory or congratulatory speeches at the end of play, and probably do the bulk of the media work.
But when it comes to the toss, setting the field, the DRS calls and any other decision that directly influences the outcome of the match, the Test team captain has first and final say.
It’s not a model I would suggest is needed forever, but then again, perhaps it’s a good means by which to ensure Pat Cummins is the next leader of the team without reducing his bowling output as a result of having the extra baggage of making all the on-field calls.
Of course, if a standout choice presents themselves as the person to be the leader and the captain, then by all means give that person the traditional role.
But with pink balls, day-night Tests and numbers on players’ backs, Test cricket is changing rapidly and the ‘tradition’ argument (“that’s not how Richie Benaud would have done it”) is about as helpful as complaining about the third umpire – the ship has sailed.
Ultimately, as long as he’s standing behind the stumps, it would be foolish not to utilise all Paine’s leadership skills.
But while Tim Paine is our best leader, he’s probably not our best captain.
Peter Darrow
Roar Guru
I'm reading Adam Gilchrists book and he states, "a wicketkeeper has enough to worry about without being the captain as well". Before this I did believe Paine was the right man for the job. But the series against India showed he was cracking under the pressure. The burden of captaincy was upsetting his wicketkeeping. The captain should always be a batsmen. Fielding is really the only time when a captain is relied upon to make decisive decisions and must have a clear head and no distractions, he has to be a batsmen. He only has to think about bowlers, fielding and not wicketkeeping or if a bowler, when should I bring myself on and other calls. Was a fan of Paine and he was the right man to instill good morals back into the team, but in a mentoring role and to another captain. Who? I don't know. It's all easy to know this in hindsight, but a natural successor should be groomed now.
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
Yep. It’s all guess work. ‘Change to what?’
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
I think there’d need to be more ordinary performers before that. Plus I’d expect that how his mind works also, believing he can still make it, he’ll bust a get to stay at top level.
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
Hi Ian. Most all that Australian team at time success came from stability of captain, I think. They didn’t chop and change like Eng.
RAdelaide
Roar Rookie
This was an interesting read. I don't agree with the 2 captains theory. Paine has done a good job under the trying circumstances he got the captaincy in, but surely now Australia need to look elsewhere. His biggest defence seems to be he has batted really well in the series, which seems bizzarre. I think his captaincy seems completely planned, as if the coaches have told him to do X for so many overs and he just does that. It feels like Langer is in charge and Paine's just acting on his instructions. On the field, it should be the captain that decides tactics. IMHO he should have bowled Green a lot more on the last day and ditto for Marnus, especially into the rough for the left handers.
Paul
Roar Guru
I'd love to see him at 5 with Green at 6. He's so aggressive, he could easily take games away from the opposition, once Smith & Labuschagne had done their thing.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
If you split the Captain's responsibilities between man-management and team responsibilities tactical nous comes under the latter. I reckon it's the most important aspect of all. ------ It's what separated Benaud, Chappelli, Tubby and Waugh from the rest. I add Border to that group even though he was not as good in the TN aspect, of captaincy, his many other virtues lift him to their level.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Yeah I was being stupid, referencing his failure as an opening right hand Warner clone the selectors tried to turn him into, instead of respecting the fact his his first class career was played as a middle order batsman.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Further down, #5 is my gut. I reckon he’d be good at getting a tail thru. As our Captaincy stocks are low in our present test players he comes with some standards re the captaincy. He has the team, he’s astute and, importantly, has the tactical nous to engineer victories. ——- And even tho he’s “a Victorian” l rate him.
Pierro
Roar Rookie
Pc australia and media fixations want langer and paine to stay on instead of some redemption for smith who has been brilliant in the ashes and at scg where he found form again after such a long lay off the red ball. England can't believe their luck in paine potentially staying on for ashes as captain . That said aus should still hold the advantage but they need to get busy giving carey , neser , swepson vital test experience and prepare kids like inglis, whiteman in to squad to sa and have faith in an older guy whose been on great form in shield in marsh (only for tests based in aus )
Kalva
Roar Rookie
Because the press are scared that if they say anything about Langer, the next thing he'll do is pick up the phone and call and give them a verbal lashing....or break down and cry...or both! Agree with what you said about Brearley...Sobers once famously said about him-"nice guy but you didn't need to be Solomon to win the series he won!" And don't forget that of the 3 Ashes series he won, 1977 was against an Aussie team totally torn apart by WSC, 1978-79 was against a 2nd Aussie XI( and that's being generous) and 1981 was against a team where the lead bowler and keeper hated the captain!
Ian
Roar Rookie
An interesting,thought provoking post Joe.Growing up in the UK....70's and 80's,I was always envious of Australia's method of picking their Test Captains.It was said you picked your best team for that match and then picked your captain.From afar that seemed the way it was done.On the whole it seemed to work.Ian and Greg Chappell,Kim Hughes (perhaps not!)Alan Border (definitely) Mark Taylor,Steve Waugh,Ricky Ponting etc...on the whole it seemed to work,especially when you compared it to the fiasco that was the English way at that time.Mike Brearley always gets my interest.An obviously intelligent man but perhaps not quite as intelligent as he thought he was,he led a charmed life as English captain.He inherited a good (Tony Greig's) side and then had the luck to play against vastly weakened opposition.He never captained England against the West Indies and only won the 1981 series as a result of Ian Bothams heroics.In 1979/80 he captained the side to Australia and lost 3-0 (only 3 Tests were played).After 39 Test matches,he averaged 22.8 as a batsmen!It was quite obvious from then on that England picked the captain first and the rest later.The worst one was Chris Cowdrey (son of you know who) who was picked as Captain against the West Indies,did absolutley nothing and was dropped never to be selected again. Anyway,I digress.After Tim Paine's very ordinary performances against India,why don't Australia just pick their best squad of players for the SA Tour.Nominate Patrick Cummins as the captain for that tour and see how he goes.If it works give him the captaincy for the Ashes...one series at a time.Since when did the Australian Captaincy have a 3-5 year tenancy? Just a thought from a frozen Pom hanging out for next years Ashes series...One last thought though...why has Justin Langer seemingly escaped from hardly any criticism ? Talk about being the Golden Boy!
Micko
Roar Rookie
As Opener? :silly:
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Finch worth a go.
Kalva
Roar Rookie
On the flip side, I don't think he would have sworn at an overseas umpire...I think his familiarity with the umpires, a couple of whom are ex Aussie Test players may have made him feel more comfortable...unfortunately he paid the price.
Kalva
Roar Rookie
Lack of flexibility and thought in tactics and selection issues occurred because of complacency. Australia regarded Brisbane as a banker...Tim Paine even revealed that thought process in his sledge at Sydney. The thought that India could not only compete but win at the Gabba was a massive shock to these guys with the "best Aussie bowling line up of all time".
Pierro
Roar Rookie
Ca and langer’s favorite son they won’t touch paine he can do no wrong . Not sure how he went from interim captain to being impossible to remove bit I do understand we needed someone in the interim .
Big Daddy
Guest
Pierro, the swearing incident with the umpires was pretty low. I was very surprised he only got deduction in match fee. If it was overseas umpire's he would have got a match.
MaxP
Roar Rookie
It’s a sports team, not a dictatorship. I’m not suggesting open dissent. But other players may offer suggestions. A good captain also seeks the views of others. There was little sign of that in those matches. There is no talk after the series of player disharmony (a sure sign of a captain making decisions no one else agreed with). It really seemed they were all in agreement with the tactics and they didn’t work out. A few catches gone to hand, a few favourable DRS calls and we wouldn’t even be having this conversation about Paine’s captaincy and tactical nous. Which suggests to me tactical nous is an overrated factor for captains
redbackfan
Roar Rookie
I don’t get how the best keeper going around misses 7 in a series, 3 in a day, and (arguably) costs us the last 2 tests. But this was really more about the captaincy, in that it should be someone who unarguably deserves his place in the team ( if you pick Paine as keeper that’s a separate discussion) but don’t make a fringe player captain. It hasn’t worked has it, either results wise or reputationally