"If Cricket Australia Had Handled It Like They Said, I Would Still Be Playing For Australia" - Former Australian Captain Tim Paine Says On His Resignation

Australia’s tour of South Africa in early 2018 turned heads in the cricketing world. After the series was tied at 1-1 and the third and penultimate Test began, Cameron Bancroft, David Warner, and then-Australian skipper Steve Smith were involved in a major scandal after the former was caught hiding sandpaper in his pocket during the third day of play.

An investigation later revealed that Smith and Warner knew that Bancroft had hidden the sandpaper while fielding. As a result, Cricket Australia (CA) banned the trio, and Tim Paine was given the captaincy.

Tim Paine said he felt “abandoned” by Cricket Australia after an explicit text-message exchange was revealed last year, prompting him to quit as Test captain ahead of the Ashes. For the first time, in his autobiography, which is out on Tuesday, Paine has revealed that texts with a Cricket Tasmania female employee in 2017 basically ended his international career.

They Were Hanging Me Out To Dry – Tim Paine

“It was becoming obvious what Cricket Australia wanted me to do, but they didn’t have the courage to say it themselves. I hadn’t seen it coming. It was obvious the board wanted me to resign and I had no option if they weren’t going to back me.

“I felt they were driven by the need to protect their image, they’d got in someone to look after them and he’d decided that I had to be sacrificed to save them, they were hanging me out to dry.”

“I was disappointed and I was tired of this. I was prepared to cop the flak for what I did, but in my mind, Cricket Australia had abandoned me and made it look like they thought I’d sexually harassed someone and so everyone else would think so too.”

If The Story Hadn’t Run, I Would Still Be Captain – Tim Paine

CA held a news conference shortly after Paine’s withdrawal, during which Freudenstein stated that the 2021 CA board would have conducted the original investigation differently and not supported Paine as captain. Paine was available for selection for the Ashes after initially standing, but eventually withdrew and took a break from the game.

“The reality was they were happy to defend me and accept I hadn’t breached their code of conduct as long as it was kept private. If the story hadn’t run, I would still be captain and if Cricket Australia had handled it like they said they would I would still be playing for Australia”

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