Former Australian test captain Tim Paine is set to make a return to cricket. Last November, it was revealed the 37-year-old had been investigated in 2018 for sending racy text messages to a female former receptionist at Cricket Tasmania.
He subsequently stepped down from his duty as the captain of his country’s red-ball side and was replaced by Pat Cummins, with Alex Carey taking his spot behind the stumps. He subsequently took a mental health break from the game and was omitted from Tasmania’s contracts list in May.
But almost a year later, Paine was selected for Tasmania’s 13-man squad for the Shield Sheffield clash against Queensland starting Thursday after returning to training in August. Ahead of playing a first class match for the first time since April 2021, the former international cricketer is raring to go.
“I'm pretty fresh, that's for sure,” he said. "Was nice to blow off some cobwebs.” Quoted by ABC, he added: "I've obviously been training for five, six weeks. I'm ready to go, excited, obviously a bit nervous, but looking forward to it."
Tasmania coach Jeff Vaughan is pleased to welcome the wicketkeeper batsman back into the fold and believes he will contribute significantly to the team. “We have absolute faith and trust in Tim and his preparation,” he said.
“Physically he is probably in the greatest spot of his physical career, emotionally he is sound. He has been training really well with us the last two months. We have got full faith in his wicketkeeping skillset so he has ticked all of the boxes.”
Vaughan has been so impressed with Paine’s training, he believes he could find himself back in Australia's premier T20 franchise league The Big Bash. Back in August, Vaughan, who is also coach of the Hobart Hurricanes, confirmed he could yet be considered for the final vacant spot on the Big Bash franchise’s list.
“(He’s) good physically, good emotionally," he shared. "Look, there’s a chance, but he’ll be one of a number of players we’ll look at for that last position.
“He’s been keeping and telling us how good he‘s going. We all have faith and trust in his ’keeping skill set. He‘s very much training as he was 12, 18 months ago."
