Captain Paine remains at the top of his game

CRICKET: The Sydney Test will be the last played under Steve Smith’s leadership ban, but that may be irrelevant as the form of the evergreen Tim Paine shows no sign of letting up.

Speculation has swirled for months over what Australia will do with the captaincy once Paine either retires or is dropped, with some suggesting this summer could be his last.

But someone has clearly forgotten to tell Paine, who despite being age 35 has surely cast aside any questions over his short-term future.

Paine’s Boxing Day Test against New Zealand was as good as any in his career.

And he’s shown his desire to carry on, frequently talking about the World Test Championship final in June 2021.

His 79 on day two at the MCG was superb, ensuring Australia would have all the momentum from his highest Test score in eight years.

It capped off a year in which Australia returned to No.2 in the world under Paine’s leadership, losing just two Tests and winning eight in 2019.

For all the criticism of his lack of centuries, Paine’s batting average of 31.58 is the third highest of all Australian wicketkeeper-batsmen, behind only Brad Haddin and Adam Gilchrist.

“Batting at No.7 you have a bit of freedom, particularly when the top order do the job they did on day one,” Paine said. “With the position we were in (against New Zealand) I thought it was on me to take it on. I like playing the pull shot.”

Smith will be free to captain again at the end of March once the two-year anniversary of the ball-tampering saga passes, and Pat Cummins is another whose name continues to be mentioned as a potential skipper. But it doesn’t look likely any changes will come before the Bangladesh Test tour in June.

Alex Carey still poses the biggest threat to Paine’s spot in the side but he too may be forced to wait his turn or come in as a specialist batsman as Paine’s keeping is still among the best.

The Tasmanian had eight dismissals and fluffed none in Melbourne, with his stumping of Henry Nicholls off Nathan Lyon particularly smart.

The dismissals helped take his tally of career catches to 131 - the most of any wicketkeeper in history after 30 Tests.