Ever since he has gone on an indefinite break, speculations are rife whether Tim Paine has already played his last Test match for Australia. But Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley said if the wicketkeeper-batter wishes to return and play for the country again, he would be welcomed back with open arms.
Hockley said he would “love” to see Paine play for Australia again even as the Test team has moved on to a new full-time captain in Pat Cummins, besides giving Steve Smith an official return to the leadership group in appointing him Cummins’ deputy.
“Would love to see him play again, for both his state and for Australia. We want to see him back out there, playing and performing, as quickly as possible,”
Hockley told SEN.
Paine quit the Test captaincy post three weeks before the Ashes opener at Gabba. He had initially kept himself available as a wicketkeeper-batter, still, but then opted to go on a mental health break, which led to talks that the 37-year-old will never play again.
The trigger to Paine’s move is well known now. It is a scandal related to his inappropriate messages sent to an ex female co-worker back in 2017 when Paine was still months away from being recalled to the Test side after seven years. CA was aware of the matter back then but cleared Paine in the controversy, which was a year before he was appointed Australia’s Test captain after the ball-tampering saga.
But once it got confirmed that the exchange between Paine and the woman will be made public through the media, the cricketer took his decision and CA also came out in the open about it, which many felt is only a cover-up for their mishandling of the issue back in the day.
The CA regime, however, has continued to defend itself amidst those accusations, stating that they felt their code of conduct regulations were good enough to treat the case with the care and attention it deserved.
