‘Good egg’ Paine slow to come to the boil
Australia went for a less abrasive leader after the ‘Sandpapergate’ scandal – but will he be too nice?
Not since 1956 have Australia chosen a captain to lead a Test tour of England on the basis that he is a decent chap and good egg. England used to do it all the time: an amateur captain not worth his place, but fundamentally “sound” and guaranteed to avoid diplomatic incidents.
It will be fascinating to see over the next six weeks whether Tim Paine can avoid the trap into which Ian Johnson fell in 1956 of being too nice. Even when England rigged the Old Trafford pitch so that Jim Laker could take 19 wickets for 90, no official complaint was forthcoming from Johnson, who was not quite up to being Australia’s off-spinner and Laker’s counterpart: he took four for 151.
This Ashes series promises to be low in totals – uniquely low for modern times, owing to the brand of Dukes ball and the lack of time for most batsmen to find any red-ball form after the World Cup – and unprecedentedly high in good manners, again by modern standards. Australia have to be on their best behaviour as their three banned players return after “Sandpapergate”: David Warner, the pitbull, will be on a very short leash at mid-on or mid-off if he thinks of snarling at England’s non-striker out of range of the stump mics.
Even the man whom Paine, 34, displaced in the Banbury club side of 2015 speaks well of him. Ed Phillips was keeping wicket for the first XI when the captain mentioned they had signed an
overseas pro who was going to push him out.
“They ran it past me and I was quite gracious about this new signing and said it was OK,” Phillips recalled yesterday. “He fitted into the changing room really well, an all-round good egg.”
Paine even took Ed’s place in his parents’ house, as his father Martin Phillips was the Banbury club chairman, although Ed had moved out by then. They played Xbox as well as cricket together. “Tim always told me he was the best at Fifa out of all the players in the Tasmania squad, but I still beat him,” Phillips said. “I managed to convince him to become an Aston Villa fan and he used to wear the shirt I gave him – but he did leave it behind.”
So a very decent new-age Australian – not in the face of every England batsman like Steve Waugh or Ricky Ponting, or even Michael Clarke, who would offer the chance of surgery on a broken arm – but no pushover either, as Phillips found when, demoted to specialist batsman, he and Paine first opened the innings together for Banbury.
“In the second over I hit my first four balls really well but straight to fielders. The opposition were all over me, saying, ‘You might like to get your eye in first’, and Tim came down the wicket and started defending
me against the slip cordon. Taking away the expletives, he said, ‘You’re lucky most of those balls didn’t go for four’. On the pitch he is tough and competitive but never goes over the top.”
Paine coached the Oxfordshire club’s younger keepers, including Phillips. “It was quite simple really. I think a few of us expected flash drills, but he slowed everything down, throwing a tennis ball or golf ball against a wall and making sure you got your head and hands in the right position. I can’t remember him making a mistake behind the stumps – he made it look so simple, no diving around.”
Paine scored five centuries and more than 1,000 runs for Banbury. “He’s still in our first XI Whatsapp group and says he keeps an eye on the boys. We’ve exchanged texts since he’s been here and I’m hoping he can get some tickets.”
Paine has played Test cricket in England before, although not against England: it was in 2010 when Pakistan hosted Australia at Lord’s and Headingley. Paine announced himself, with his excellent technique in batting and keeping, as the successor to Brad Haddin when he retired.
Then came a horrible right index finger injury in 2010 when Paine was hit in a T20 charity game at the Gabba, and needed several operations. He was not even Tasmania’s first-choice keeper, behind Matthew Wade, when Australia’s selectors were looking for a veteran good at mentoring to captain their colts against England in a warm-up before the 2017-18 Ashes.
And, after Paine returned to the Test side for that series, their selectors again needed a veteran good at mentoring when the captain and vice-captain, Steve Smith and Warner, were banned for a year. Paine led Australia’s ODI tour of England last summer. It was a disaster. He was not worth his place in their one-day team – his highest score was 15 – and England won 5-0. Can England undermine their captain again? Will the Edgbaston crowd remind Paine he has scored one first-class century – in 2006? This Ashes series comes too soon after the World Cup for the quality to be the highest, but it will be as fascinating as ever.