Paine’s chance to turn tables
TIM Paine has stepped into the fiercest Australian captaincy hotseat in more than 30 years, but the ball-tampering scandal engulfing the Test side could also pave the path to redemption.
That is the opinion of former England one-day captain Adam Hollioake, who knows better than most what Paine is in for against South Africa and beyond.
Handed the reins with England just five games into his international career, Hollioake said Paine’s ascension in the wake of Steve Smith’s removal was the biggest captaincy controversy since Allan Border took over from Kim Hughes in 1984.
Brought out of a seven-year Test wilderness for the 2017-18 Ashes in Australia, 33-year-old Paine has played just 13 games for his country and takes over a side in disarray.
However, Hollioake urged the Tasmanian to harness the public backlash to the South African saga.
“I think with the ball tampering and sportsmanship issue at the moment, he’s got to use that negative as a positive to galvanise the team,” Hollioake, based on the Gold Coast since 2008, said.
“When you’re together as a group of men and the whole public’s against you, it can really bond you and you can use it as a positive. That’s what I’d be doing – ‘everyone hates us at the moment, everyone is against us but there are 15 peo- ple in this squad who can start putting things right’.
“All (Paine’s) past, whether it’s good or bad, it counts for nothing. He’s just got to focus on what he’s doing now, he’s got to focus on getting that team together and that’s going to be hard.
“If he’s going to be wasting energy worrying about what little he’s played recently then he’s going to be barking up the wrong tree. He’s got to put all those distractions out of his mind.”
Hollioake played a handful of club games with Paine in England three years ago and described the wicketkeeper batsman as “a solid guy”.
“When I was made captain, we’d just beaten Australia 3-0 and I got man of the series so I was coming off a pretty good run for me. So I guess for him it’s probably a bit harder in that he hasn’t had an amazing run.
“Just recently he’s come in there and he’s in there (as captain) by default but by the same token most people who make it to international cricket are pretty mentally tough.”
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