Shield prep for Paine’s Ashes quest
TEST captain Tim Paine’s Ashes preparations will ramp up on Saturday after he was named in Tasmania’s Sheffield Shield squad for the resumption of the season.
At the conclusion of the Test summer earlier this month, when Paine won his first series as captain against Sri Lanka, he said he had been thinking about the Ashes from the moment he took over.
With many of his Test teammates headed to India with the one-day team, Paine will pad up against the English Dukes ball, which is being used for the second half of the Shield season, when the Tigers clash with South Australia.
Paine won’t be captain, with Test aspirant Matthew Wade to continue as skipper.
Wade was told by national selectors to bat higher in the order if he wanted to continue to push his Test claims.