Australian captain Paine sees crowded Test calendar

SYDNEY: Australia captain Tim Paine believes Test cricketers would be prepared to play a lot of matches in a short space of time once the coronavirus crisis is over to ensure the World Test Championship can be completed as scheduled next year.

International cricket, like most other sports, has been shut down while the world battles the pandemic and Paine said it did not take “Einstein” to conclude that Australia’s Tour of Bangladesh would probably not go ahead in June.

With other Tours also on hold, it has been suggested that the International Cricket Council might need to push back the conclusion of the inaugural edition of the Test championship.

Paine hoped it would not be pushed back too far and said he thought players would favour playing catch-up to finish it as planned with a final between the top two teams at Lord’s on June 10, 2021.

“Maybe the players are going to have to go through a period where we play quite a bit of cricket if we want to complete the Test championship as it is,” the 35-year-old wickeetkeeper said yesterday.

“I think the players are certainly enjoying that points system and the fact that every Test match counts for something ... I think all players would be in favour of trying to finish that any way we can.”

Paine reiterated that winning the championship was a big goal for his team, who are currently second in the standings behind India. The Indians are scheduled to play four Tests in Australia this year.

With Steve Smith’s two-year ban on holding a leadership role in the team – imposed after the Newlands ball-tampering scandal – having expired at the weekend, Paine was quizzed about the batsman’s possible return to the team’s captaincy.

Making it clear he would not be standing aside prematurely to make way for the former skipper, Paine said he would support it if that is what Smith wanted. — Reuters