Paine undecided on his future after series loss

MANCHESTER: Australia captain Tim Paine intends to bide his time over deciding on his own whiteball future after his side fell to a 50 whitewash against England.

Jos Buttler’s stunning century steered England to a thrilling onewicket victory over the Aussies at Old Trafford yesterday to wrap up a 50 whitewash.

But while the run of bad results has left Paine unsure about his oneday captaincy, he fully intends to continue leading the test team.

‘‘I haven’t thought about it, to be honest,’’ the 33yearold wicketkeeperbatsman said.

‘‘All I know is I was coming here to do this series and I’ve said a few times before, when you are my age, it’s a bit foolish to look ahead,’’ he added.

‘‘Certainly I am really looking forward to captaining the test team and continuing how I have been playing in that format. But where I go with the rest of my cricket is something we will discuss in the coming weeks.’’

Paine’s own performances over the series — scores of 12, 15, 5, 3 and just 1 in yesterday’s final match — have left the Tasmanian bitterly disappointed.

‘‘It’s been difficult,’’ Paine added. ‘‘Obviously you play cricket to do well and this series I haven’t done that; I haven’t played as well as I would have liked to.

‘‘That happens, but it’s not certainly through a lack of effort. I’m trying my guts out, like the rest of the guys. It’s one of those series, started off poorly and just couldn’t get it back on track.’’

Paine says that despite their setback in England, he expects to see most of the squad returning next year for their defence of the World Cup.

‘‘I think everyone who’s here is going to be in the mix for that squad,’’ he said.

‘‘We don’t know who we will have available next year.

‘‘But I’ve heard a few times that this team doesn’t have a plan, or it doesn’t know where it’s going, but we do have a clear direction.

‘‘We know we are a long way off the mark at the moment but the World Cup is not for 12 months and we know when we get our best team on the park, playing our best cricket, we are going to be right in the thick of it.’’ — AAP