Former Australian Test skipper Tim Paine has made shocking claims about his Test captaincy resignation. The wicket-keeper batter Paine has blamed Cricket Australia for abandoning him following the sexting scandal last November.
In his autobiography titled, "The Price Paid", Paine said that the board did not support him and made a PR person make him quit captaincy. "It was becoming obvious what Cricket Australia wanted me to do but they didn’t have the courage to say it on their own, they were letting their hired consultant run the show. They’d held a gun to my head. I couldn’t go on without their support," Paine said according to 7news.com.au.
"We did a phone link which included this person they'd hired from a public relations firm who'd apparently given advice to the board in the past. I found it very strange that this person, someone I'd never met and someone who did not work at Cricket Australia, took the lead in the call while Nick, the chief executive, took a back seat," Paine stated.
He added, "The PR consultant then told that the best way to get ahead of the story was if I stood down as captain. I was shocked by that, and so was James (his manager). Who was this guy? What did he know about the circumstances? That was the first time anyone had mentioned me resigning as captain. There was no way I was doing that."
Tim Paine was caught in a controversy following an explicit message exchange between him and a female employee of Cricket Tasmania in 2017. Paine said that the board's integrity report had cleared him of any wrongdoings and stated that the exchange was consensual.
Paine resigned as Test captain in November 2021 and took an indefinite break. He returned to action with appearances for Tasmania in Sheffield Shield matches.
