Paine in charge of ODI team
Selectors stick with incumbent
Tim Paine will shepherd Australia through their first assignment since the ball-tampering crisis but it appears likely to be a temporary posting, with national selectors yet to settle on a permanent one-day international skipper. Paine, who took over as Australia’s Test captain during the tour of South Africa, will lead a 15-man squad for five ODIs in June. Aaron Finsh has been named as vice-captain while Nathan Lyon has earned a long awaited ODI recall.
TIM Paine will shepherd Australia through their first assignment since the balltampering crisis but it appears likely to be a temporary posting, with national selectors yet to settle on a permanent oneday international skipper. Paine, who took over as Australia’s Test captain during the tour of South Africa, will lead a 15-man squad for five ODIs in June.
Aaron Finch has been named as vice-captain for the first assignment under new coach Justin Langer while offspinner Nathan Lyon has earned a long-awaited ODI recall, having last represented Australia in white-ball cricket in August 2016. Paine’s steady leadership is likely to prove crucial with the English press certain to drill down on the ball-tampering incident in Cape Town which led to heavy suspensions for Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft. But the 33-year-old’s future is uncertain beyond that tour.
Paine will take no part in Australia’s upcoming Twenty20 matches and is no certainty to retain the ODI captaincy for the 2019 World Cup. “Tim is a strong leader and will captain the (ODI) side for this series, supported by Aaron,” chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said on Tuesday. “A decision on a permanent one-day captain will be made in due course.” Australia will play one T20 game in England followed by a T20 tri-series in July in Zimbabwe, which also involves Pakistan. Finch will captain the T20 side with Alex Carey named as his deputy in a major endorsement for the young wicketkeeper.
“I wasn’t really expecting it to be honest,” Carey said. “As a wicketkeeper in T20s, you’ve probably got the best eyes to see what’s going on. Hopefully I can learn and keep growing as a leader.”
Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins have been ruled out for both tours in the hope they will be available for the Test series against Pakistan later this year. Queensland tweaker Mitchell Swepson has been called up for the T20s while Ashton Agar has been named in both squads. D’Arcy Short is in the frame for an ODI debut after an impressive T20 campaign in New Zealand.