Tim Paine Bullish About Australia's World Cup Chances

Australia’s nightmarish One-Day International series against England ended in the most heartbreaking manner. Down 4-0 in the series, the reigning world champions needed to win the fifth game on Sunday to avoid a first whitewash against their bitter rivals. And they were pretty close until Jos Buttler played yet another gem of a knock to pull of a heist.

Chasing a modest 206, England were reeling at 114 for 8. However, Buttler held firm from one end and scored a brilliant century to take his team home in a thrilling manner.

Speaking after the loss, skipper Tim Paine admitted the whitewash “stings”. But at the same time, he insisted not all is lot for Australia, saying that there was “light at the end of the tunnel”.

“For the majority of the innings we bowled really well, really straight, bowled a good length and created chances,” said Paine.

“I just think there was half an hour there where we bowled a touch wide. But apart from that I felt like our bowlers were outstanding today and certainly not to blame for the loss.

“But again in this game we have shown glimpses with bat and ball that there is certainly some real talent in the squad.

“And while it has been a bitterly disappointing series, I suppose (there is) a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel,” he added.

In the must-win clash, Australia’s batsmen came up with their worst performance. Barring Travis Head, who struck his third half-century of the tour, and D’Arcy Short (47) and Alex Carey (44), none of the other batsmen made any significant contribution. In fact, other than these three only two Aaron Finch (22) and Kane Richardson (14) managed to cross the double digits. As a result, Australia were all out for 205 in the 35th over.

The way England had batted in the first four games, it was going to be a cakewalk for them. However, Billy Stanlake ripped through England’s top order with 3-18 in his opening five-over spell and Kane Richardson returned to the side to claim 3-51 and the decision to open with Ashton Agar against in-form opener Jason Roy reaped dividends when he was bowled in the first over. England were five down for just 50 and later 8 down for 114 but Buttler managed to help England register a thrilling one-wicket win.

Australia’s batsmen once again failed to deal with English spin duo of Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid. While Moeen took 4 for 46, Rashid ended the game with 1 wicket as they finished the series with 12 wickets.

Speaking about how the series panned out for his side, Paine said:

“We haven’t been able to put a full game together at any stage and I think it has shown throughout the whole series.”

“Every time England’s good players have put us under pressure, with the bat or the ball, we have stumbled a little bit, and that’s probably again what happened today.

“We got off to a great start then Moeen came on, who has had a pretty good series against us, and guys are probably just over-thinking it a bit.

“He ends up with 4-40 again and we are in trouble again and have to re-build a bit,” he added.

The 33-year old was bullish about Australia’s World Cup chances next year. Without the suspended Steve Smith and David Warner, Australia were further weakened by the absence of pace trio – Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.

Paine is adamant Australia will be a much better side when the big names return to the team.

“We’ve got a number of players who weren’t in this squad who have played in and won World Cups. They know what it takes,” he said.

“Cricket Australia as an organisation knows what it takes and whilst I’ve heard a few times this team looks like it hasn’t got a plan or doesn’t know where it’s going, we’ve got a clear direction, we know where we’re going.

“We know we’re a long way off the mark at the moment but the World Cup is not for 12 months.

“We know when we get our best team on the park, when we’re playing our best cricket we’re going to be right in the thick of it,” he added.