Under-Pressure Tim Paine Hopeful Of Retaining ODI Captaincy

Tim Paine, Australia’s Test captain, is hopeful of retaining Australia’s One-Day International captaincy despite the horror performance in England earlier this year.

Paine was named as the Test and ODI skipper after the ball-tampering scandal led to the banning of Steven Smith and David Warner following the one-year sanction from Cricket Australia (CA). However, his stint as ODI skipper started on a disastrous note. England drubbed the reigning world champions 5-0 to register their first -ever whitewash over their Ashes rivals in a five-match series.

What further hurt Paine’s reputation was his poor performance with the bat. The wicketkeeper-batsman scored only 36 runs at 7.2 in five innings. Not surprisingly, there are murmurs that Australia might sack him as ODI skipper before the next ODI assignment. Australia will next host South Africa in November. And keeping in mind the 2019 World Cup, the Australian selectors might take a big call.

However, Paine has said he hoped to retain the top role in the 50-overs format.

At the same time, he insisted  that even if he is stripped off the captaincy, he would continue to focus on his Test cricket and try to do well in the format

“I am completely comfortable either way. I obviously would like to do it … if I continue to do it, great, but if not, it’s a real opportunity for me to focus on Test cricket and do that as well as I can,” he told Sydney Morning Herald.

Asked if he felt he was in Australia’s best team, Paine replied:

“I think so. I feel I can do the job, no doubt about that. The wicketkeeper role in our best one-day team is batting down the order and doing a good job with the gloves. No doubt that’s a job I feel I can do. But if it’s not to be, it’s not to be. I am happy either way.”

Alex Carey has been tipped by many to replace Paine in the white-ball cricket. The South Australian has made an impression with his hitting abilities. He had played two games in England, scoring 6 and 44.

Meanwhile, Aaron Finch and Mitchell Marsh are seen as the front-runner to become Australia’s captain.

Paine further defended his side’s performance in England by saying that the hosts were just too good. He also pointed out that Australia will compete well in next year’s World Cup.

“England were playing an unbelievable brand of cricket at the time. Everything was going really well for them. They were too good for us,” Paine said.

“Coming out of that tour, we found out about a number of our players. As I said, a lot of our guys will come back into that team for the World Cup. Australia will be taking a very competitive team to that World Cup, no doubt,” he added.

Paine is likely to lead Australia in the two-Test series against Pakistan in UAE. The squad is likely to be named on Tuesday.