IAN CHAPPELL

No sooner had England established a world record score and an unassailable lead in the fivematch series, than the muttering started about Tim Paine’s appointment as Australia’s ODI captain. Paine can’t be blamed for the opposition’s record score. England belted 21 sixes, so a legitimate response to his critics would be; “What was I supposed to do. Put fielders in the stands?”

However what Paine didn’t do when he was officially appointed captain of the Test and ODI sides was establish who was in charge. Following the appointment of a new coach, Paine talked about the team putting into practice Justin Langer’s philosophies.

Paine should’ve established how HE wanted the team to behave and how HE wanted them to play. When Mark Taylor began his highly successful reign as Australian captain, he told coach Bob Simpson ---who had stepped forward to speak to the players --“I’ll handle this Bob.”

Paine may have felt he was only keeping the seat warm for the return of banned skipper Steve Smith but to not immediately stamp his leadership credentials was a mistake.

Contrast Paine’s position with that of Ajinkya Rahane who took over from injured captain Virat Kohli during a Test series against Australia.

In his own positive way, he made it obvious he was leading in his own style and was not a carbon copy of Kohli.

This is not an easy thing to do as a substitute captain but Rahane, who didn’t appear an obvious choice, proved to be a natural leader.

One of the hardest things for a selection panel is the choice of a new captain.

It’s harder for selectors to predict captaincy potential than it is for the player to evolve into a good skipper if he has natural leadership qualities.

In Kohli’s case it was easier for selectors to gauge his captaincy potential because he successfully led the India U-19 side. It’s becom-