WELCOME ANY TIME
Paine denies Warner’s team rift
NEW Australian one-day skipper Tim Paine says the banned David Warner would be welcome back into the side with open arms and denied reports the opener had been ostracised by the team over his role in the ball tampering crisis.
Senior News Corp cricket cor- respondent Robert Craddock reported about half of the Australian team had requested to Cricket Australia that Warner should not be allowed to return to the team, but at Paine’s first press confer- ence as 50-over skipper he strenuously denied the story.
“I just thought he [Craddock] was a little bit off the mark there and really unfair on David Warner as a person and as a cricketer,” Paine said. “David is someone who is certainly highly competitive on the field and certainly that can rub people up the wrong way and opposition up the wrong way, but certainly in our team he is some- one with that energy and competitiveness we love playing with.
“They were disappointing comments and that is certainly not the way David is held within our team.
“There is a side of David people don’t know, that’s a very loyal, really sort of caring and good team man to have around.”
Paine said he had been in touch with all three banned players — Warner, former skipper Steve Smith and opener Cameron Bancroft — and said if their form warranted selection the welcome mat would be rolled out once their suspension was served.
“All three of those are going to be welcome back into the team if they are prepared to toe the line with our new brand of cricket, which I know they will, and I know they will all do the right thing and score enough runs to be back in our side,” he said. “They will certainly be welcomed back.”
Paine will lead Australia on its first tour since the ill-fated series in South Africa when the team heads to England for a one-day tournament next month.
He said he was expecting a barrage of questions from the media and lots of reminders of the ball tampering row from the crowds.
“I think the English will be basking in the glory of what’s happened. It is going to be different,” he said.
“But having said that, having played in England, the crowds and the media are always coming at us for something.
“It won’t be too foreign, it is just going to be the level of it and the seriousness of what’s happened and the guys are certainly going to have to be ready for that.
“The positive thing is we are going over there to play cricket, so if we play well and show we are moving forward then hopefully the talk around that stuff that has happened will die off.”