Paine to continue as Aussies chase success

CRICKET: A text message from Prime Minister Scott Morrison was a solid reminder for Australian captain Tim Paine how big an achievement it was for his team to regain the Ashes. But amid talk it could be a crowning glory for the man thrown into the captaincy deep-end last year, Paine said he was enjoying things too much to walk away now. Ahead of the fifth and final Test – which starts at The Oval tonight – Paine said his phone went “berserk” after that win at Old Trafford which put his team up 2-1. “I got a text from the Prime Minister which was very exciting, a first for me. I’ve got his number now … I’m going to save it and I might ring him if we win this one,” Paine said. “He was pretty pumped. (It was) along the same lines of messages we got from a lot of people back home in Australia – congratulations, everyone’s proud of us, Steve Smith’s a freak and make sure you finish it off this week.” Paine will hold up the urn sometime over the next five days, wanting the scoreline to read 3-1 because his team “came here to win the Ashes. We didn’t come here to retain them”. And the man thrown into the job with Australian cricket at its lowest ebb, wants to do more winning with a team coming together, fending off talk that walking away with the Ashes could be the ultimate end. “I constantly talk to (coach) JL (Justin Langer) and (chairman of selectors) Trevor Hohns about what might happen or how long I might go for, but ... I’m loving doing what I’m doing and I think while you’ve got a job that you love you’ll try and do it for as long as you can,” Paine said.