If Tim Paine Doesn't Want To Be A Distraction, Then He Shouldn't Be Playing Either - Ian Healy

Former Australian cricketer Ian Healy feels that former skipper Tim Paine’s presence in the dressing room or the playing XI might be a distraction that he doesn’t want to be.

Paine had to step down from captaincy after his lewd text messages and explicit pictures sent to a co-worker in Cricket Tasmania surfaced. He took the tough decision to relinquish the captaincy but will continue to be available for the Test side.

“My answer is yes (he should be in the playing XI)… but if it’s the distraction he doesn’t want, and that’s why he stood down from the captaincy, he wasn’t told to stand down and was actually implored by his coach to stay, but he didn’t want to be a distraction.“

“So, he’s going to be a distraction if he plays, if he doesn’t want that distraction he shouldn’t be playing either, he shouldn’t be making himself available. He certainly has made himself available, I’d probably be looking at seeing how it goes,” Healy said about the 36-year-old.

“I don’t think Alex Carey has done anything wrong not to get the wicketkeeper job” – Ian Healy

If Paine is dropped from the playing XI altogether, then Australia needs a wicket-keeper who can be relied upon with the bat as well. Ian Healy mentioned the name of Alex Carey, who hasn’t been on the selectors’ radar for any of the formats of late.

“Well I think Carey, I don’t think he’s done anything wrong not to get that job, and he’s just young enough at 30-years-old. Having said that, my selection would have been Josh Inglis. Carey certainly deserves to have a go, but if George Bailey (CA chairman of selectors) and his selectors say, ‘No, we’re going to go young and build the future’, then it looks like Josh Inglis of Jimmy Peirson, but I’d say it’s Josh Inglis, who has absolutely jammed the door with his foot,” Hely observed.

The Ashes 2021-22 is less than a month away, with the first Test set to be played at the Gabba on December 8.

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