Tim Paine Is The Best Wicket-Keeper In The World, He Must Play - Nathan Lyon

Australia’s premier off-spinner Nathan Lyon asserted that disgraced former skipper, Tim Paine, is the best wicket-keeper in the world and should definitely be picked in the playing XI for the upcoming Ashes series.

Paine hastily resigned as the captain of Australia’s Test team after a 2017 ‘sexting’ scandal resurfaced. His Aussie teammates and support staff have come out in support of him following the incident but Paine’s future is not in their hands. A panel will decide if he can continue being part of the squad.

“In my eyes, Tim is the best gloveman in the country, in the world. I can 100 percent guarantee he has the full support of the Australian change room. I don’t see him as a distraction at all. Come the Gabba Test match and throughout the whole series, we are professional sportspeople and we will go out and do our job.“

“Tim made a mistake, he’s owned it, for me, that shows great courage, to be honest. Tim has got my full support. I am looking forward to catching up as soon as we get out of quarantine. The selectors said they were going to pick the best available XI and in my eyes, Tim Paine is the best keeper in the world. I want him. This is very selfish, from a bowler’s point of view, I want the best gloveman behind the stumps,” Lyon stated.

“I am excited we are potentially going to have a bowler as captain” – Nathan Lyon

The Australian team will be appointing a captain very shortly and one of the front liners for the role is the vice-captain, Pat Cummins. Very rarely does a fast bowler end up as the captain of a Test team but Nathan Lyon insisted he is quite excited about it.

“You have a bowler’s mindset and a batter’s mindset rather than two batters; they can come together and really come up with some good guidance. I am excited by the fact we are potentially going to have a bowler as captain. Our preparation is flying along. I’m ready to go. We’re feeling extremely confident going into a pretty amazing summer,” Lyon added.

The first Test of the Ashes 2021-22 series will begin on December 8 at the Gabba in Brisbane.

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