Following the suspension of Steve Smith and David Warner, wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Paine has been appointed as the new skipper. of Australia.
However, the former Australian players like Allan Border and Shane Warne both suggested that with Paine becoming the skipper, he might be pushed up in the batting order.
Warne and former Aussie skippers Border and Ian Chappell felt that the workload of wicket-keeping, captaining and batting might become an ardent task for him.
They suggested that South Australia Alex Carey should be called in to play as a wicketkeeper-batsman.
Subsequently, it will enable Paine to play freely as a batsman and a skipper. Paine’s elevation as a skipper has been marred following the ball-tampering scandal. He was made the skipper just four months after he wasn’t considered as a part of Tasmania’s best Sheffield Shield side.
Cricket Australia (CA) stated that Paine is just not a short-term replacement for Smith. He is set to lead the side in Australia’s next away series against Pakistan later in the year.
In addition, given Paine’s long history of finger injuries including the hairline fracture. He recently sustained injury during the fourth Test in Johannesburg he might be problematic behind stumps for a longer period of time as suggested by Ian Chappell.
“The problem if you’re talking long-term is that Tim Paine has got bad finger problems,” Chappell is quoted as saying by Channel Nine’s Sports Sunday Program.
“The one thing you don’t want is having to change captains on a regular basis. There’s many qualities you need as a captain, but one of them is being there pretty much every game,” Chappell added.
“And that’s probably why we haven’t seen many wicketkeepers (captain in Tests) because you’re more likely to break your finger keeping than you are standing at first slip.” Warne stated that the triple burden might be too much of a challenge for Paine.
“I’ve never liked a wicketkeeper captaining a side,” he told SuperSport.
“I think there’s so much going on and they’re the barometer for the fielders to keep the energy up in the field all the time. I’m not saying Paine doesn’t have a good brain for it, it’s better to have someone looking from a different angle to the keeper,” he added.
The views given by Chappell and Warne is supported by history as only four other Australian wicket-keepers have led the side before Paine albeit for brief periods. While Gilchrist led in six Tests from 2000 to 2004, Barry Jarman and Jack Blackham led in one and eight Tests respectively.
In the history of Test cricket, only 31 wicket-keeper have led their nation with the majority of them relatively for short-term options.
Only Mahendra Singh Dhoni (60 Tests) and Mushfiqur Rahim (28 Tests) have led their nation in more than 20 Tests.
However, Tim Paine has no doubt that he can tackle the triple load and come out triumphant.
“I think batting down the order means I can sit and think. And I think the way I play my cricket now is a lot more relaxed than when I last played for Australia,” Paine asserted.
“I was quite an uptight and aggressive cricketer but now I’m a lot more laidback which allows me to conserve a lot more mental energy. I missed two-and-a-half seasons of cricket so the rest of my body is going really well for a 33-year-old,” he concluded.
Here’s the Newsfeed:
NZ vs ENG 2018: James Anderson Breaks Courtney Walsh’s Record of Most Deliveries in Tests by a Pacer
New Zealand beats Australia to finish ahead in the Test team Rankings
