Apology from Paine for sledging
CRICKET
SYDNEY: Australia captain Tim Paine has apologised for his conduct during the final day of the third test against India, saying his sledging of Ravichandran Ashwin fell short of the standards he has set for the team.
Wicketkeeper Paine at one stage abused Ashwin as the spinner and Hanuma Vihari batted through the last three hours of the match to save a draw at the SCG and keep the series tied at 11.
Paine (36), who apologised to his teammates for his three dropped catches in his postmatch news conference on Monday, requested the opportunity to address the media again yesterday.
‘‘I want to apologise for the way I went about things. I’m someone who prides himself on the way he leads this team and yesterday was a poor reflection of that,’’ he said.
‘‘My leadership wasn’t good enough; I let the pressure of the game get to me. Yesterday, I fell short of my expectations and my team’s standards.
‘‘I’m human, I want to apologise for the mistakes I made yesterday . . . we’ve set really high standards over the last 18 months and yesterday was a bit of a blip on the radar.’’
Paine, who was fined 15% of his match fee for swearing while complaining to an umpire, is acutely aware the only reason he was handed the Australian captaincy after the Newlands balltampering scandal cost Steve Smith the job in 2018 was because of the nonconfrontational way he went about the game.
‘‘I spoke to [Ashwin] quickly after the game yesterday, and I said to him ‘yeah, you end up looking the fool, you open your mouth and you end up dropping a catch’,’’ he added.
‘‘We had a bit of a laugh about that . . . and everything was fine.’’
The wicketkeeper also defended Smith against charges of gamesmanship during the Sydney test.
Smith was named man of the match after the drawn test, having scored a total of 212 runs, but the former skipper’s actions in the field during a drinks break on day five have caused controversy.
Some media outlets claimed Smith risked being charged by the match referee, likening it to deliberate running on the pitch, while former England captain Michael Vaughan termed it ‘‘very, very poor’’.
‘‘I know he’s really disappointed with the way it’s come across,’’ Paine said.
‘‘If you’ve watched Steve Smith play test cricket, that’s something he does every single game. Five or six times a day . . . I have seen Steve do it many times in test matches and shield games. — Reuters