Score big or it’s all over

Warne tells Paine he could lose captaincy

TIM Paine can continue captaining Australia for as long as he wants — if he makes runs.

There’s no point in Paine, 34, being in the side, not making runs and just being captain of the side.

Yes, he’s the best keeper in Australia. But I look at that No.7 spot and I think there are some other candidates like Alex Carey or a Josh Philippe who could lengthen the batting order and dominate with the bat as well as being very good with the gloves.

Phillippe, 22, is young and would be a pick ahead of schedule, but a good punt.

The looming question is this. If Tim Paine doesn’t make any runs this summer and Steve Smith is allowed to captain the side in March what is the best for Australian cricket, and what is the best for Steven Smith? I would love Smith to just bat and be the experienced senior player in the group.

Don’t take over the captaincy again, don’t have all that responsibility, just go and hit 5000 balls a day in the nets, or 10,000, and keep churning out hundreds and continuing to be the best Test batsman in the world.

That’s what I would like to see happen.

But the problem comes if Paine doesn’t make any runs and then you say, “Well, hang on, we can get something better from that spot. Let’s start blooding a young Phillippe or bring in Alex Carey, who could be there for five years”.

Then the question is this – who captains? At the moment there’s no real standout that jumps out at you and says, “He should be captain”.

Travis Head, 25, to me could be a future captain, but I worry because he hasn’t consolidated his spot. If I’m picking my first Test team for the