England shows it’s here to win

Paine spills his best chance to shine

NICE, Garry. Not so nice, Tim.

Recalled Australian keeper Tim Paine has realised his worst nightmare in his shock comeback, spilling a chance to dismiss England dangerman James Vince off cult hero Nathan Lyon in the first Ashes Test.

Paine was dubbed “Australia’s best keeper” by selectors when they justified plucking the 32-year-old from obscurity to play his first Test in seven years for the Ashes opener in Brisbane.

And at first, his only problem yesterday seemed to be getting the “Nice, Garry” catchphrase right after each Lyon delivery.

The tagline coined by the man he replaced in the Test gloves — good mate Matthew Wade — and named for former AFL player Garry Lyon could only be heard on the stump mikes by first slip Steve Smith after England won the toss. Paine put his own twist on it with “Gorgeous, Garry”, “Beautiful, Garry” or “Oh yeah, Gaz” regularly heard.

But there were only groans when Paine spilled a chance off Lyon with Vince on 68.

Smith threw his head up in despair as Paine made a meal of the rare chance following wonderful pressure from Lyon. The off-spinner finally got his man when he spectacularly ran out Vince for a Test-high 83 with a direct hit early in the final session.

Still, Paine’s glovework behind the stumps has come under question after the potentially costly miss.

“You don’t look for what might happen, you watch for what is happening and he wasn’t quite ready for what came to him,” ex-Test keeper Ian Healy said of Paine’s mistake.

All eyes were on Paine after he received a surprise call-up as Test keeper despite donning the gloves in only three Sheffield Shield games in the past two years for Tasmania.