I Hope The Australian Public Will Welcome the Banned Trio and Give Them a Fair Chance - Tim Paine

Australian Test skipper Tim Paine urged his country’s public to give the banned trio a fair chance when they return saying that he hoped Australia’s citizen would welcome them back into the national team.

Meanwhile, the one-year ban on Steven Smith and David Warner will expire at the end of March. It is likely that the selectors will rush them back to the playing XI which has mainly struggled over the past one year. Speaking on their return, Tim Paine is hopeful that his country’s citizen will give them a fair chance.

“I hope they’re welcomed back,” Paine said. “I mean everyone is entitled to their own opinion and will have a different view on it.

“But I think that once they’ve done their time I’m very hopeful that the Australian public will welcome those three guys back and give them a fair chance. I mean, just to be treated like all other cricketers are,” he added.

Smith and Warner could make their comebacks in a one-day international in late March when Australia will play a series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates. On the other hand, Cameron Bancroft’s ban ran on last week, and he took the field in the Big Bash League.

Tim Paine admitted after Australia lost the third Test to India in Melbourne last week that Smith and Warner were badly missed.

“I think it’s pretty clear that if you take two or three of the best players out of anyone’s line-up around the world, you’re going to struggle a little bit at times and you are going to have inconsistent performances,” he said.

“The silver lining is that we do have world-class players that are available soon to come back into this side, and clearly when they do they will make a huge difference,” Paine concluded.